WALES

Departmental Freedom of Information

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 his Department received in 2008; and how many of these received a substantive response within 20 days.

Peter Hain: In 2008-09 the Wales Office received 49 requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 42 of these were answered within 20 days.

Departmental Manpower

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what changes to senior officials in his Department there have been during his present appointment as Secretary of State.

Peter Hain: A new director has been appointed and three senior civil servant posts have been filled substantively.

Departmental Manpower

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many posts at each grade in his Department are unfilled.

Peter Hain: There are six posts vacant currently. One at band A (grade 7), one at band C (higher executive officer), three at band D (executive officer) and one at band E (administrative officer).

Departmental Security

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many security passes his Department has issued to contractors providing consultancy services in the last 12 months.

Peter Hain: None.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

BAE Systems

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Solicitor-General whether the Attorney-General has had recent discussions with ministerial colleagues on the Serious Fraud Office's announcement that it intends to seek the Attorney-General's consent for prosecution in relation to charges against BAE Systems.

Vera Baird: The Attorney-General has had no such discussions.

Departmental Assets

Vincent Cable: To ask the Solicitor-General what assets of the Law Officers' Departments are planned to be sold in each year from 2009-10 to 2013-14; what the  (a) description and  (b) book value of each such asset is; what the expected revenue from each such sale is; and if she will make a statement.

Vera Baird: The Law Officers' Departments hold only minimal freehold assets, and in line with core Government policy actively manage their estates with a view to operational efficiency. Currently there are no plans to sell any assets in the years 2009-14.
	The Government have stated their intention to realise £16 billion in asset disposals over the period 2011-14 and will publish further details of opportunities to commercialise business assets in the coming weeks.

Departmental Data Protection

Angela Browning: To ask the Solicitor-General what security requirements are made by the Law Officers' Departments in respect of  (a) people employed to provide audio transcription services to his Department from home,  (b) the premises in which work to provide such services is carried out and  (c) arrangements for the transfer of data between such premises and the Law Officers' Departments.

Vera Baird: The Attorney-Generals' Office, the Serious Fraud Office, Treasury Solicitors, the National Fraud Office and HM Crown Prosecution Services Inspectorate do not employ people to provide this service.
	In the case of the Revenue and Customs Prosecution Service any such services used are supplied by HM Revenue and Customs, who are responsible for ensuring that their security requirements are complied with.
	The CPS has contracts with the providers of audio transcription services that require the greatest possible degree of security commensurate with the value of the data and the risks, so as not to compromise the confidence of the vulnerable and intimidated witnesses who have provided the evidence, and to prevent misuse of the recordings, or transcripts for criminal or other unauthorised purposes.
	The contract states that "the contractors shall store or process data only at sites specifically agreed in writing by the CPS". No permission has been sought or granted to any supplier to work outside their sites, or for any of their staff to work from home.
	The four suppliers used by CPS set out their physical security arrangements for the premises as part of the tender. The details met the requirements of the CPS. The sites have subsequently been inspected and approved by staff from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
	All transfer of data between such premises and the CPS is carried out by Royal Mail-Special Delivery or Tracked Document Exchange (DX) or by hand in exceptional circumstances. This accords with the conditions set out in the Cabinet Office Security Policy Framework.

Departmental Leave

David Laws: To ask the Solicitor-General how many days off in lieu  (a) the Law Officers' Departments and  (b) its agency granted to staff for working (i) during their lunch breaks and (ii) at other times outside contracted working hours in the last 12 month period for which figures are available.

Vera Baird: The exact figures for time taken in lieu within the Law Officers' Departments and agency could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Sentencing: Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Solicitor-General on how many occasions sentences handed down in courts in Northern Ireland have been subject to a referral to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney-General on grounds of undue leniency in the last five years; and on how many such occasions the sentence was amended as a result.

Vera Baird: The matter falls to me to answer as the power to make a reference to the Court of Appeal rests with the Attorney-General for Northern Ireland.
	The figures requested are as follows:
	
		
			 Number of offenders with sentence unchanged  
			   Number of offenders referred to Court of Appeal  Number of offenders with sentence increased by Court of Appeal  Court found sentence to be unduly lenient  Court found sentence not to be unduly lenient  Number of offenders with reference withdrawn 
			 2005 14 7 5 2 0 
			 2006 6 3 1 1 1 
			 2007 0 0 0 0 0 
			 2008 9 5 2 1 1 
			 2009(1) 10 6 2 0 1 
			 (1) One case referred in 2009 awaits hearing

Terrorism: USA

Edward Garnier: To ask the Solicitor-General 
	(1)  when Law Officers were informed by the Crown Prosecution Service that there was no or insufficient evidence to maintain a prosecution against Lotfi Raissi with regard to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC on 11 September 2001;
	(2)  when Law Officers and officials of the Law Officer's Departments discussed with representatives of the security services, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service or the US Federal Bureau of Investigation progress in the criminal investigation into the alleged activities of Lotfi Raissi with regard to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC on 11 September 2001;
	(3)  when Law Officers and officials of the Law Officer's Departments were informed of the contents of the Crown Prosecution Service report on its conduct of the case relating to the alleged involvement of Lotfi Raissi in the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC on 11 September 2001;

Vera Baird: I will answer the three questions together. Due to the passage of time which has elapsed since the events in question, it has not been possible to establish when communications passed between the CPS and the Law Officers, or their officials, about the case of Lotfi Raissi in 2001-02. Given the high profile and sensitive nature of the case, the Law Officers would have been kept informed and told promptly of any significant developments. The Law Officers were informed in September 2008 of the contents of the CPS report.

PRIME MINISTER

10 Downing Street

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Prime Minister what records are archived on the premises of 10 Downing street.

Gordon Brown: The arrangements for the retention of records for the Prime Minister's Office are informed by "Operational Selection Policy OSP 12 (Records of the Central Direction and Oversight of Government Policy and Programmes, 1970-2000)" issued by The National Archives and available on The National Archives' website.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Departmental Consultants

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many external consultants work for his Department.

Paul Goggins: As at 27 November 2009, the Northern Ireland Office core and its Executive agencies employed five consultants on a full-time equivalent basis.

Departmental Disabled Staff

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department's guidelines in relation to the recruitment and employment of disabled people in the Northern Ireland Office.

Shaun Woodward: As the majority of staff in the Northern Ireland Office are Northern Ireland civil servants on secondment from the Department of Finance and Personnel, the Northern Ireland Office follows the NICS policy on the recruitment and employment of disabled people, which is a devolved matter.

Departmental Security

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many security passes his Department has issued to contractors providing consultancy services in the last 12 months.

Paul Goggins: The Northern Ireland Office has not issued any security passes to contractors providing consultancy services in the last 12 months.

Departmental Travel

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on what date he last travelled by  (a) bus and  (b) taxi in the course of his official duties.

Shaun Woodward: In accordance with advice the Secretary of State does not travel by bus or taxi for security reasons. All of my travel arrangements are undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.

Prisons: Alcoholic Drinks

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions illicit alcoholic beverages have been found in the Sperrin unit of HM Prison Magilligan in the last five years.

Paul Goggins: There have been no illicit alcoholic beverages found in Sperrin House during the last five years.

Racially Aggravated Offences

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were convicted of a racially-motivated crime in Northern Ireland in each of the last two years.

Paul Goggins: The information sought on convictions for racially-motivated crimes is not available. Conviction would be for the simple offence (e.g. assault) without reference to any racial motivation. Court conviction data do not contain background information in relation to offences committed, and it is therefore not possible to separate out the number of convictions for offences with a racial motivation.

Serious Organised Crime Agency: Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the operation of the Serious Organised Crime Agency in Northern Ireland.

Alan Campbell: I have been asked to reply.
	The purpose of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) is to prevent and detect serious organised crime and to mitigate its harms by other means throughout the UK. It discharges these functions in Northern Ireland as it does in the rest of the UK and reports its results in its annual report each year.

Sexual Offences

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people were  (a) prosecuted for and  (b) convicted of (i) assault and (ii) sexual assault on teachers in Northern Ireland in each of the last two years.

Paul Goggins: The information requested is not available. Court prosecution and conviction data do not contain background information in relation to offences committed, and it is therefore not possible to separate out the number of prosecutions and convictions for assault and sexual assault on teachers.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Manpower

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will take steps to ensure sufficient agriculture engineers are trained to service the UK agricultural and food industry markets.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The issue of improving skills in the farming industry is best managed by the industry itself. Lantra, the Sector Skills Council for the Environmental and Land based industries, which includes the agricultural sector, has the role of representing the needs of the industry to Government.
	DEFRA is working with a number of industry stakeholders, including Lantra, on an industry led action plan called Skills for Farming. This action plan has recently been discussed directly with the Secretary of State and work is ongoing. The action plan will cover all skill areas in the industry, including technical skills, as well as business, environmental management and low carbon farming skills.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department has spent on administering non-compliance penalties issued under the Single Payment Scheme in each of the last five years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Penalties, reductions and exclusions may be applied to Single Payment Scheme applications for a number of reasons if an application is found to be non-compliant. In answering this question we have taken 'non-compliance penalties' to mean all cases where a reduction has been made to farmers' payments under the Single Payment Scheme.
	It is not possible to identify separately the costs of administering non-compliance penalties from overall administrative costs.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he made of the costs associated with the Rural Payments Agency's practice of resizing fields in each of the last three years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Rural Payment Agency's (RPA) annual business as usual running costs of maintaining the Rural Land Register (RLR) mapping system by adjusting fields are as follows:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2008-09 2.9 
			 2007-08 2.9 
			 2006-07 4.3 
		
	
	In addition to the business as usual costs, RPA has projected a budget of £21.4 million (covering the period January 2007 to April 2010) to complete the programme of work which includes updating the RLR data with the latest mapping information and confirming the link between each land parcel and a specific claimant.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the average amount of personal debt incurred by farmers due to late Single Payment Scheme payments;
	(2)  what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect on farmers of late payments under the Single Payment Scheme.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Since the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) was introduced in 2005, the timing of payments to English farmers has improved year on year. That progress continued under the 2009 scheme when over 80 per cent. of farmers received payment on the opening two days of the regulatory seven month payment window.
	Regrettably, some farmers are paid after the end of the payment window, but only under the 2005 scheme has the amount concerned exceeded the 4 per cent. 'franchise' in EU regulations that triggers late payment penalties. The 4 per cent. franchise exists in acknowledgment that some claims are particularly complex or involve legal issues, such as probate, which take additional time to resolve. Payments made after the end of the payment window may have an impact on individuals' financial position, but the Department is not aware of any data that would identify specifically related cases of debt. In order to minimise any such impacts, the Rural Payments Agency will continue its efforts to make outstanding payments as early as possible and pay interest in lieu of compensation, above a deminimis of £50, in cases where this is not possible until after the end of the payment window.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department  (a) has been required and  (b) is likely to be required to pay in financial penalties for non-compliance with European Commission requirements in respect of the Single Payment scheme in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: To date, financial penalties of order of £64 million for late payments and £5 million for a shortfall in cross-compliance inspections have been imposed in respect of the 2005 Single Payment scheme. In addition, provisions have been made in DEFRA's accounts for potential 'disallowance' totalling £205 million in respect of the 2005 and 2006 Single Payment schemes combined. However, the European Commission has yet to complete its deliberations on this issue. No penalties/disallowance have been imposed or provisions made in respect of subsequent scheme years.

Agriculture: Wales

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the financial implications for farming incomes in Wales of the interpretation by  (a) the European Court of Auditors and  (b) the European Commission of the rules regulating EU agri-environmental schemes.

Huw Irranca-Davies: Welsh agri-environment schemes are funded by the Rural Development Plan (RDP) for Wales. The RDP for Wales is the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly Government and as such, any decisions on the implications for farming incomes in Wales are a matter for them.

Dangerous Dogs

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the reasons for trends in the number of cases of people attacked by dogs in the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: We have made no such assessment.

Dangerous Dogs

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many arrests have been made for offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in  (a) Merseyside and  (b) England since the Act came into force.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally.
	The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery. Offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 are not notifiable offences and do not form a part of the collection.

Dangerous Dogs

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the  (a) genetic and  (b) other factors affecting the likelihood of different breeds of dogs being involved in attacks on people.

Jim Fitzpatrick: We have made no such assessment. However in April this year we commissioned new research into dog aggression against humans. The project will last for 15 months and will entail an analytical study into the risk factors associated with past aggressive dog behaviour towards people.

Dangerous Dogs

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people have been convicted for offences related to attacks by their dogs on  (a) children and  (b) other people in the last five years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Information from the court proceedings database held by the Ministry of Justice provides information on the number of defendants proceeded against and found guilty for offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. The database does not hold specific information on offences beyond descriptions provided by the statutes under which prosecutions are brought, and for this offence cannot separately identify whether the individual attacked was a child or adult.
	
		
			  Defendants found guilty for selected offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, England and Wales, 2003 to 2007( 1, 2) 
			  Number 
			  Offence description  Section of the Act  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place injuring any person S.3(1) 302 350 403 458 456 
			
			 Owner or person in charge allowing dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place, no injury being caused S.3(1) 171 167 168 160 205 
			
			 Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non-public place and injure any person S.3(3) 33 25 25 29 27 
			
			 Owner or person in charge allowing dog to enter a non-public place causing reasonable apprehension of injury to a person S.3(3) 10 5 9 11 15 
			 (1) The number proceeded against and number found guilty statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.  (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces and the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.   Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice (Ref: IOS 578-09).

Dangerous Dogs

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many dogs have been seized and put down in  (a) Southport constituency,  (b) Merseyside and  (c) England in the last 12 months.

Jim Fitzpatrick: These figures are not held centrally.

Flood Control

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he plans to take to give the Fire Service a statutory duty to carry out flood rescues as recommended in the Pitt Report.

Huw Irranca-Davies: Following completion of the Flood Rescue National Enhancement Project, for which £2,000,000 has been allocated from DEFRA's funding to implement Sir Michael Pitt's recommendations, the Government will assess the improved flood rescue capability. We will also consider whether there is a need for a statutory duty to underpin the role of any of the agencies involved.

Land: Registration

Michael Howard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of maps issued have been returned due to error during the course of the 2009 update of the Rural Land Register; what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of work arising from maps returned due to error; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: holding answer 1 December 2009
	The Mapping Update project was undertaken to update the land information held on the Rural Land Register (RLR) by improving the quality of data and providing farmers with an accurate and up-to-date record of their land in respect of subsidy claims.
	As at 27 November 2009, more than 107,000 maps have been sent to farmers and we have received 44,360 requests for changes. This represents some 41 per cent. of the maps issued and remains within the project's expectations.
	The cost of making the requested edits and re-issuing maps is included in the overall RLR programme cost of £21.4 million was set out in my answer to the hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) 21 July 2009,  Official Report, column 1167W.
	While the latest Ordnance Survey data and recent aerial photography have been used, the maps will not show any changes to the land carried out more recently by farmers and the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) ask farmers therefore to confirm that the maps are correct, or what changes are necessary.
	Each year the Rural Payments Agency receives about 25,000 business as usual requests for land changes from farmers. In 2009 many of these will be included in the Mapping Update requests.

Livestock: Animal Welfare

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of ships departing from UK ports carrying live animals have been subject to inspection for animal welfare purposes in each of the last five years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: All livestock vessels (other than roll-on, roll-off vessels which are exempt from the need to be formally approved) are inspected and approved prior to use. This is a requirement of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport. It is not possible to provide figures for the previous five years since these data are not available centrally.

River Tame: EU Law

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to ensure the Tame River catchment meets the requirements of the EC Water Directive.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The consultation on the Humber River Basin Management Plan, which covers the River Tame catchment, ran from 22 December 2008 to 22 June 2009. The responses were used to further develop the plan which was sent to Ministers for approval on 22 September 2009.
	There are a number of pressures on the Tame catchment, such as physical modifications due to urbanisation, flood protection, point source discharges from sewage works and diffuse run-off from urban areas.
	Some of the key actions that will be implemented in the River Tame, subject to the River Basin Management Plan being approved, include:
	Improvement to the quality of the final effluent from sewage treatment works, to reduce levels of nutrients in the catchment, including phosphorus via the Asset Management programme.
	Targeted pollution prevention campaigns around industrial areas throughout the catchment.
	Targeted discussions with local authorities on their contribution to the required actions.
	Investigations into sources of poor water quality in water bodies and the impact of any abstractions within the catchment. Projects include "It's a Washout"-a study on identifying and tackling areas of urban diffuse run-off in the Upper Tame catchment.
	Tackling diffuse pollution across the catchment with the use of projects involving local communities, local authorities and water companies.
	Initiatives include the Washwood Heath Brook improvement project and the Thimble Mill Brook improvement project.
	Tackling historic industrial pollution issues, for example, the leaching of heavy metals from contaminated land to the Rough Brook and also at Bentley Mill Way.
	Projects for the improvement of fish populations within the River Tame catchment include creating refuges to shelter fish from pollution and flooding and improving the river-habitat, for example, by re-profiling projects at Tamworth and Croxall.
	Feasibility reports for fish passes to allow fish to migrate to spawning habitats and re-colonise the river.
	River restoration projects along the Tame and its tributaries, including channel braiding, gavel introduction, tree planting, floodplain habitat creation and reconnecting the river to its floodplain.
	The first set of River Basin Management Plans for the period 2009-15 are due to be published on 22 December 2009.

Rural Payments Agency: Manpower

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many  (a) full-time,  (b) part-time,  (c) permanent and  (d) temporary staff have been employed at the Rural Payments Agency in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Table 1 details the number of permanent and temporary staff employed at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in each year since 2005.
	
		
			  Table 1 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Permanent(1) 2,555 2,666 2,344 2,829 
			 Temporary(2) 1,949 1,801 1,953 871 
			 (1) Includes only civil servants with permanent employment contracts. (2) Includes all staff who do not have permanent employment contracts, for example fixed-term and casual civil servants, employment agency workers and contractors. 
		
	
	Table 2 shows how many full-time and part-time civil servants were employed at RPA in each year since 2005. RPA has not historically kept records on whether agency staff or contractors are full or part time.
	
		
			  Table 2 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Full time civil servants 2,854 2,812 2,966 2,991 
			 Part time civil servants 237 275 574 348

Sewers: Private Sector

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of the proposed provisions of the Private Drains and Sewers Transfer Bill on the drainage contracting industry.

Huw Irranca-Davies: At each stage of the Review of Private Sewers DEFRA has published Impact Assessments to accompany consultations and decisions. The latest Impact Assessment accompanied Hilary Benn's announcement of the decision to proceed with transfer in November 2008 and is available at:
	www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/water/industry/sewers/documents/impact-assessment-private-sewers.pdf
	The Small Firms Impact Test within this Impact Assessment acknowledged that some smaller independent drainage contractors perceive transfer as a threat. Some do see opportunities, such as CCTV work for example, because of course the work on sewers and laterals will still need to be undertaken.
	A further Impact Assessment will accompany the consultation on proposals for implementation regulations on which I anticipate consulting this winter (2009-10), prior to presenting the final regulations to Parliament for approval.

Sewers: Private Sector

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what consultation his Department undertook with the drainage contracting industry regarding the transfer of private drains to water companies in 2011.

Huw Irranca-Davies: In July 2003 DEFRA published the 'Review of Existing Private Sewers and Drains in England and Wales' consultation paper that sought views on a range of strategic options to deal with the problems of private sewers. The Government published a response to this consultation in October 2004. 81 per cent. of stakeholders favoured a change of ownership, and of these, 90 per cent. held the view that sewerage undertakers should take over responsibility. DEFRA acknowledged the strength of support for this solution and undertook to look at it in more depth.
	Subsequently, representatives of 50 stakeholder groups were invited to a private sewers seminar in January 2005. This included a workshop looking at the potential impacts on small businesses.
	Because of the drainage industry's fragmented nature and the fact that no national body specifically represents the views of smaller drainage companies it has been particularly difficult to seek contractors' views. However, following the workshop DEFRA undertook a telephone survey of over 130 contractors to identify the potential impacts of any transfer on them. DEFRA has also included the Society of British Water and Wastewater Industries and the National Sewerage Association, together with the Enterprise Directorate (formerly the Small Business Service), on a stakeholder steering group. These organisations have consistently made representations about the potential impact of transfer on smaller drainage businesses.
	In February 2007 the Government published their decision paper and committed to consult on options for the implementation of transfer. A consultation paper on implementation options was published in July 2007, and Hilary Benn announced on 15 December 2008 the Government's decision to proceed with transfer from 2011.
	Copies of the 2003 and 2007 consultation papers and the Government's 2004 response to the review were placed in the Library of the House on publication. A Summary of Responses to the 2007 Consultation on Implementation Options was published in March 2008 and is available from DEFRA.
	Further consultation on the content of regulations to implement transfer will be published this winter and DEFRA continues to work closely with a range of interested stakeholders in developing proposals for implementation.

Water Charges: Concessions

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to the answer of 14 October 2009,  Official Report, column 950W, on water charges, in which financial year he expects such concessionary schemes to commence; and what prior steps he is taking to assist voluntary organisations which are subject to surface water drainage charges.

Huw Irranca-Davies: Legislation to enable water and sewerage companies in England and Wales to operate concessionary schemes for community premises for the purpose of surface water drainage charges was included in the Flood and Water Management Bill. This was presented to Parliament on 19 November.
	Currently four of the 10 water and sewerage companies in England and Wales have switched to site area charging for surface water drainage for non-household customers. Most of the problems originally occurred with United Utilities and it is currently looking at options to ensure that community groups do not face unaffordable surface water drainage charges ahead of the Government's legislation being in place.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Departmental Official Hospitality

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies spent on (i) alcohol and (ii) entertainment in the last 12 months.

Si�n Simon: All expenditure on entertainment is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
	The overall expenditure on entertainment by the Department in the last 12 months (to November 2009) was £126,470. It is not possible to disaggregate the spend on alcohol except at disproportionate cost.
	The Royal Parks, the Department's agency, does not record information against these expenditure headings and it would incur disproportionate cost to obtain it by manually reviewing the year's underlying paperwork.

Departmental Public Relations

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what payments Digital UK has made to  (a) Weber Shandwick and  (b) Fishburn Hedges in the last 12 months; for what purpose; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contracts under which such payments have been made.

Si�n Simon: The information you have requested is not held centrally and is a matter for Digital UK.
	Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood. Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Departmental Public Relations

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what payments the British Museum has made to Weber Shandwick Public Affairs in the last 12 months for which figures are available; for what purpose; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contracts under which such payments have been made.

Margaret Hodge: The information you have requested is not held centrally and is a matter for the British Museum.
	Accordingly, I have asked the director to write to the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood. Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Departmental Security

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many security passes his Department has issued to contractors providing consultancy services in the last 12 months.

Si�n Simon: While the Department holds a record of security passes that have been issued to contractors, this is not broken down into those providing consultancy services and those who are not.

Departmental Telephone Services

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many telephone lines with the prefix  (a) 0870,  (b) 0845 and  (c) 0800 his Department (i) operates and (ii) sponsors; how many calls were received to each number in the last 12 months; and whether alternative numbers charged at the BT local rate are available in each case.

Si�n Simon: My Department operates one of these, an 0800 number, and 1,422 calls were made to that number in last 12 months. No alternative number charged at the BT local rate is available as it is not necessary.

Holiday Accommodation: Overseas Visitors

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what his latest estimate is of the use by overseas visitors of self-catering holiday accommodation in this country in each of the last three years.

Margaret Hodge: VisitBritain makes available data from the Office for National Statistics' International Passenger Survey. The data capture the number of inbound visitors, the number of nights spent in Britain by inbound visitors, and the amount spent on trips within the UK broken down by accommodation categories, though not specifically self-catering holiday accommodation. This information can be accessed at:
	http://www.visitbritain.org/Images/acomm08pivot_tcm139-167995.xls

Horserace Totalisator Board

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made in preparations for the sale of the Tote.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Government are preparing for the sale of the Tote in line with my right Hon. Friend the Prime Minister's announcement on 12 October 2009. The current intention is that a sale process would start in summer 2010 and be completed around March 2011.

Leisure: Expenditure

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  how many  (a) playing fields and  (b) swimming pools there are in each (i) district council and (ii) unitary authority area in the East of England;
	(2)  what information his Department holds on expenditure on running costs for sports and leisure facilities at district and unitary council areas in the East of England.

Gerry Sutcliffe: Sport England has supplied the information in the following table for the number of grass pitches and swimming pools in each district council and unitary authority area in the East of England.
	
		
			  District/Unitary Authority (UA)  Green  Fields  Swimming Pools 
			 Babergh 137 8 
			 Basildon 179 14 
			 Bedford 322 16 
			 Braintree 175 15 
			 Breckland 155 9 
			 Brentwood 112 14 
			 Broadland 137 14 
			 Broxbourne 112 9 
			 Cambridge 169 17 
			 Castle Point 93 8 
			 Chelmsford 256 18 
			 City of Peterborough (UA) 158 14 
			 Colchester 245 24 
			 Dacorum 288 24 
			 East Cambridgeshire 141 5 
			 East Hertfordshire 219 22 
			 Epping Forest 169 14 
			 Fenland 112 5 
			 Forest Heath 54 4 
			 Great Yarmouth 91 9 
			 Harlow 95 7 
			 Hertsmere 185 17 
			 Huntingdonshire 223 13 
			 Ipswich 140 11 
			 King's Lynn and West Norfolk 179 13 
			 Luton (UA) 179 14 
			 Maldon 59 6 
			 Mid Bedfordshire 242 14 
			 Mid Suffolk 176 7 
			 North Hertfordshire 199 14 
			 North Norfolk 155 15 
			 Norwich 100 11 
			 Rochford 109 8 
			 South Bedfordshire 195 10 
			 South Cambridgeshire 262 13 
			 South Norfolk 212 14 
			 Southend-on-Sea (UA) 193 14 
			 St. Albans 284 17 
			 St. Edmundsbury 157 18 
			 Stevenage 95 5 
			 Suffolk Coastal 243 13 
			 Tendring 114 18 
			 Three Rivers 134 7 
			 Thurrock (UA) 164 10 
			 Uttlesford 141 10 
			 Watford 87 6 
			 Waveney 134 11 
			 Welwyn Hatfield 141 10 
		
	
	Sport England does not collect the running costs for sports and leisure facilities in each district and unitary council. This information would have to be requested from each individual local authority.

Members: Correspondence

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Tamworth of 16 October 2009.

Margaret Hodge: A response to your letter was sent out on 6 December 2009.

Museums and Galleries: Yorkshire and Humberside

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people visited each of the national museums in Yorkshire and the Humber in each year since 1996-97.

Margaret Hodge: The number of visits to the national museums which fall within the Yorkshire and Humber region are as follows.
	
		
			   National Coal Mining Museum For England( 1)  National Media Museum( 2)  National Railway Museum, York  Royal Armouries Leeds  Total 
			 1997-98 n/a 298,901 420,079 349,000 1,067,980 
			 1998-99 n/a 83,613 434,566 296,000 814,179 
			 1999-2000 n/a 962,899 467,880 173,500 1,604,279 
			 2000-01 65,802 969,822 485,785 185,710 1,707,119 
			 2001-02 60,032 823,309 587,862 280,867 1,752,070 
			 2002-03 107,282 768,161 767,299 302,527 1,730,705 
			 2003-04 121,822 723,273 740,217 277,105 1,862,417 
			 2004-05 116,553 658,991 885,406 301,809 1,962,759 
			 2005-06 119,627 615,431 744,472 244,469 1,723,999 
			 2006-07 128,960 677,029 903,188 225,417 1,934,594 
			 2007-08 135,699 737,857 824,106 267,624 1,965,286 
			 2008-09 116,186 672,951 782,430 264,973 1,836,540 
			 (1) Visit figures for National Coal Mining Museum England for years prior to 2000-01 are not available. (2) The National Media Museum was partially closed in 1997-98 and 1998-99 for refurbishment.

Tourism: Cumbria

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support  (a) his Department and  (b) the Regional Development Agency is providing to assist Cumbria's tourism industry to recover from the recent flooding.

Ben Bradshaw: The information requested is as follows.
	 (a) My Department is part of the Government's Flood Recovery group and is monitoring the situation closely. We have been working with our partners to provide assistance for the tourism industry in the area. For example, Cumbria Tourism has set up a helpline to provide advice to visitors (01539 825070) and web pages to detail events going ahead. This will be supported by a pre-Christmas marketing campaign. English Heritage has ensured that one of their Historic Buildings advisors is free to provide specialist advice: it is still too early to know the full extent of the damage or the scale of response required, but this will become clearer over the coming weeks.
	 (b) The North West Development Agency (NWDA) announced a £1 million Flood Recovery Grants package for small and medium enterprises which includes support for tourism businesses. It was announced that this would be supplemented with an additional £100,000 to support the national marketing campaign, noted above, led by Cumbria Tourism. NWDA has also placed adverts in national papers promoting tourism businesses in the area and the NWDA tourism marketing team is pursuing similar lines to promote tourism in Cumbria. This activity is all in addition to the ongoing funding of Cumbria Tourism which will receive core funding of £1.4 million from NWDA in 2009-10.

TRANSPORT

Buses: Safety

Graham Stringer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many buses were subject to  (a) pre-notified and  (b) un-notified safety inspections by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency in each of the last five years; and what proportion of these were issued with (i) immediate and (ii) suspended prohibition notices.

Paul Clark: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) have conducted the following tests on passenger service vehicles over the last five years:
	
		
			   Number of checks  Number prohibited 
			 2008-09 16,503 3,370 
			 2007-08 14,362 2,853 
			 2006-07 18,849 3,200 
			 2005-06 17,516 2,772 
			 2004-05 17,746 2,840 
			  Note: VOSA does not separately record  (a) pre-notified and  (b) un- notified safety inspections. 
		
	
	These data and further information are available in VOSA's effectiveness report available at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/publications/corporatereports/2008-2009reportsuite/2008-2009reportsuite.htm

Buses: Safety

Graham Stringer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport if he will place in the Library a copy of each report of research projects conducted by  (a) his Department,  (b) the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency and  (c) the Traffic Commissioner on safety risks to the public in respect of the bus industry in the last 10 years.

Paul Clark: Any research conducted by the Department for Transport concerning safety risks to the public in respect of the bus industry would already be placed in the Libraries of the House.
	Any research conducted by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) is sponsored by the central Department. VOSA's enforcement figures regarding all public service vehicles are published in its Effectiveness report, a copy of which can be found in the Libraries of the House.
	The Traffic Commissioners do not conduct research but may inform VOSA of any specific areas of concern they have. Any reference to safety risks by the bus industry would be found in the Traffic Commissioners Annual Report, a copy of which has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Buses: Safety

Graham Stringer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much funding his Department allocated through the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency for the monitoring of performance in relation to bus services in each of the last three years; and how much funding he plans to allocate for such purposes in each of the next three years.

Paul Clark: Funding allocated by the Department to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency for bus punctuality enforcement for the last three financial years is set out in the following table. Decisions about funding for the next three years are still to be taken.
	
		
			  Financial year  Funding (£) 
			 2007-08 650,000 
			 2008-09 713,750 
			 2009-10 790,000

Capita Group

Don Touhig: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether any contracts between Capita Group plc and his Department and its predecessors have been cancelled before completion since 1997; and whether Capita Group plc has been liable for any penalties arising from failings in the administration of contracts since 1997.

Chris Mole: Since the Department for Transport was formed in May 2002, there have been no contracts prematurely terminated with Capita Group plc. During this period Capita Group has been liable for settlements in respect of assorted delays incurred on projects to the aggregated value of £2.738 million.

Departmental Assets

Vincent Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what assets of his Department are planned to be sold in each year from 2009-10 to 2013-14; what the  (a) description and  (b) book value of each such asset is; what the expected revenue from each such sale is; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Mole: The Government have stated their intention to realise £16 billion in disposals over the period 2011-14 and will publish further details of opportunities to commercialise business assets in the coming weeks.
	The Department for Transport is considering a number of opportunities for asset sales. However, the timing of any sale is subject to market conditions being right.
	Details on value cannot be released due to the need to protect the Department's position in future sale negotiations.
	Two high profile examples are Dartford Crossing and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1).
	 Dartford Crossing
	The A282 Dartford Crossing comprises the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which provides four southbound lanes, while two tunnels under the Thames provide a four-lane northbound facility. Use of the crossing is subject to a congestion charge in both directions paid at a plaza located to the south of the Thames.
	The Department is working with HM Treasury and the Shareholder Executive to consider the commercial options for realising value for the taxpayer from the Dartford Crossing. No estimate of the saleable value of the Dartford Crossing has been made. Any such valuation would depend on the nature of any commercial agreements for a sale, including, but not exclusively, the length of those arrangements, the level of future charges and forecast future traffic volumes. The Department is planning to provide initial views from the analysis on future capacity options in early 2010. This will provide a basis for deciding which commercialisation option to pursue.
	It is not possible to say when a sale might be finalised.
	 Channel Tunnel Rail Link-High Speed 1 (HS1)
	High Speed 1 (formerly known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link) is the high speed line which operates between St. Pancras International Station and the Channel Tunnel. It is operated by HS1 Ltd which is owned by London and Continental Railways (LCR).
	The Department is currently engaged in a restructuring of London and Continental Railways. Following this, it is the Department's intention, as market conditions allow, to sell a long-term concession for High Speed 1 in such a way as to maximise value for money for the taxpayer. The Government would not wish to publish its estimate of the expected proceeds at this stage; to do so might condition the competitive sale process and damage value.
	It is not possible to say when a sale might be finalised.

London City Airport

James Brokenshire: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what recent discussions  (a) he and  (b) officials in his Department have had with (i) National Air Traffic Services (NATS) and (ii) the Civil Aviation Authority on the decision to modify the flight routings of aircraft using London City Airport; and for what reasons such revised routings did not form part of the further public consultation on the NATS Terminal Control North proposal.

Paul Clark: The revised standard instrument departure (SID) routings at London City airport were implemented in accordance with the independent airspace change process under which it is for the airspace change sponsor to develop and consult upon proposals. It is then for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the independent airspace regulator, to assess the proposals against regulatory requirements and either approve or reject the proposal.
	The Terminal Control North (TC North) proposals, of which the London City SID changes originally formed a part, are a package of measures designed to reduce delay whilst maintaining safety and improving environmental performance in one of the most complex areas of airspace in the world. Following the outcome of last year's public consultation, NATS decided to review the TC North design options. However, the London City airport SID change element was aimed at meeting already established International Civil Aviation Organisation design standards. In the circumstances, the London City SID changes were removed from the TC North proposals and progressed as a stand alone proposal. The CAA considered that further consultation on the London City airport SID changes were not needed as they had already been included in the full TC North consultation.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

David Crausby: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many people renewed their vehicle excise duty online in  (a) 2008 and  (b) 2009 to date.

Paul Clark: During 2008 the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's Electronic Vehicle Re-licensing and SORN service completed 16,299,242 successful transactions, broken down into 14,141,505 re-licensing transactions and 2,157,737 SORN transactions.
	To date in 2009, there have been 18,107,026 successful transactions. 15,794,997 of these were re-licensing transactions and 2,312,029 were SORN transactions.

Network Rail

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what discussions he has had with train operating companies on proposals that they take control of the railway network from Network Rail.

Chris Mole: The Department for Transport has not had any recent formal discussions with train companies on proposals that they take control of the railway network from Network Rail.

Norwich-London Railway Line

David Ruffley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport on how many occasions Ministers in his Department travelled on the Norwich to London railway line in the course of their official duties in each of the last 10 years.

Chris Mole: The information is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate costs.

Roads: Accidents

Robert Wilson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport 
	(1)  how many  (a) road traffic accidents,  (b) road traffic fatalities,  (c) accidents involving motorcyclists,  (d) fatalities involving motorcyclists,  (e) accidents involving cyclists and  (f) fatalities involving cyclists there were in (i) Berkshire and (ii) Reading East constituency in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many road traffic accidents in  (a) Berkshire and  (b) Reading East constituency involved motorbikes in each of the last five years; and how many of these resulted in loss of life in each of those five years;
	(3)  how many road traffic accidents which occurred in  (a) Berkshire and  (b) Reading East constituency involved loss of life in each of the last five years.

Paul Clark: The information requested is given in the following tables:
	
		
			  Reported personal injury road accidents and fatalities in Berkshire: 2004-08 
			   2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 All injury accidents 2,528 2,480 2,532 2,448 2,323 
			 Fatal accidents 36 39 32 34 27 
			 Fatalities 39 44 34 35 27 
			   
			 Accidents involving motorcycles 334 311 296 300 284 
			 Fatal accidents involving motorcycles 5 9 5 7 6 
			 Fatalities in accidents involving motorcycles 5 11 5 8 6 
			 Accidents involving pedal cycles 276 270 286 293 302 
			 Fatal accidents involving pedal cycles 7 0 2 3 0 
			 Fatalities in accidents involving pedal cycles 7 0 2 3 0 
		
	
	
		
			  Reported personal injury road accidents and fatalities in Reading East constituency( 1) : 2004-08 
			   2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 All injury accidents 319 317 335 301 302 
			 Fatal accidents 1 0 4 2 4 
			 Fatalities 1 0 4 2 4 
			   
			 Accidents involving motorcycles 44 40 47 46 35 
			 Fatal accidents involving motorcycles 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Fatalities in accidents involving motorcycles 0 0 1 0 1 
			   
			 Accidents involving pedal cycles 55 66 64 59 55 
			 Fatal accidents involving pedal cycles 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Fatalities in accidents involving pedal cycles 1 0 0 0 0 
			 (1) Based on 2004 constituency boundaries.

Roads: Accidents

Robert Wilson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport 
	(1)  how many fatal road traffic accidents there have been in Reading, East constituency where the major contributory factor was  (a) speed,  (b) excess alcohol and  (c) failure to maintain the vehicle in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many individuals were injured as a result of road accidents attributed to  (a) road surface defects,  (b) road works and  (c) defective road signs in (i) Berkshire and (ii) Reading, East constituency in each of the last five years.

Paul Clark: Information on contributory factors to road accidents is not available below Government office region level.
	Information about contributory factors can be found in Article 4 in the Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2008 Annual Report, copies of which have been deposited in the Libraries of the House.

Roads: Accidents

Robert Wilson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what statistics his Department collects on road traffic accidents involving newly-qualified drivers; and how many such accidents occurred in Reading, East constituency in the last five years.

Paul Clark: Information regarding the length of time individuals involved in road accidents have held a driving licence is not routinely collected by the Department for Transport.
	The Department has published research into new and learner drivers, Road Safety Research Report No. 81-Cohort II: A Study of Learner and New Drivers, part of which looked at their involvement in road accidents.
	A copy of this report has been deposited in the Libraries of the House.

Siemens

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport whether his Department has entered into any contracts with Siemens or its subsidiaries since February 2009.

Chris Mole: The Department for Transport has awarded one contract through the Highways Agency for Regional Control Centre Operational Telephony Service Management to Siemens plc on 20 August 2009. The value of the contract on award was £3,320,000.
	Siemens has several hundred subsidiary companies and to carry out a search across the Department for contacts with all of these companies would incur disproportionate costs.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan: Armed Forces

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent estimate he has made of the number of soldiers of the Afghan national army who are fully trained; and what proportion of these are serving in Helmand province.

Bill Rammell: The total number of Afghan national army currently stands at approximately 96,000. This total includes soldiers that have completed training and those who are still going through training.
	As announced by the Prime Minister on 14 October 2009,  Official Report, column 300, there were only 4,200 Afghan soldiers in Helmand last year; this year there are already an extra 50 per cent, more than 6,000, and more on the way.
	As recently made clear by the Prime Minister, we will continue to work closely with the Government of Afghanistan and the International Community to build the capacity of the Afghan national security forces.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he has taken to improve the energy efficiency of forward operating bases in Afghanistan.

Kevan Jones: Work is in hand to ensure equipment deployed at forward operating bases in Afghanistan is configured, managed and used to minimise energy consumption as far as is practicable. This includes monitoring and analysing energy use, insulating operational accommodation, and making more efficient use of diesel generators. We are also exploring options such as the use of solar power, advanced thermoelectric generators and energy storage devices. A number of the proposals are being evaluated for potential deployment to further reduce energy use and vulnerability at forward operating bases.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will introduce groin protection plates as an addition to personal body armour for armed forces personnel deployed in Helmand province.

Quentin Davies: We are continually seeking ways to further protect our personnel, and work is well under way to research ways of providing additional protection including for the whole of the perineal area.

Air Force: Deployment

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average unit tour interval of each Royal Air Force regiment was at the latest date for which information is available.

Bill Rammell: The average unit tour interval for the RAF Regiment Field Squadrons, i.e. the interval between overseas deployments, is 15 months as at 3 December 2009. This figure continues to improve reflecting increased recruitment and action taken earlier this year to increase the RAF Regiment. An additional Force Protection Wing and Force Protection Squadron have been added to the Regiment's strength, bringing the total to seven Force Protection Wings and Squadrons.

Aircraft Carriers

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the planned in-service dates are for the two new aircraft carriers.

Quentin Davies: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 2 November 2009,  Official Report, column 649W, to the hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis).
	The latest cost and time estimates are currently going through the Department's approval process. As is normal practice, we will not make any announcements until this process has completed.

Armed Forces: Absence Without Leave

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel have been absent without leave in each month of 2009 to date.

Kevan Jones: The information is not held in the format requested. Centrally held information relates to the number of Absent Without Leave incidents and not to the number of personnel. Additionally, data are only available by month in respect of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. In respect of the Army, only the year to date total is held centrally and to obtain this information by month will require a manual search of records which could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The available figures are provided in the following table.
	AWOL statistics are recorded by the number of incidences reported, because the figures may include Service Personnel who have been AWOL on more than one occasion. Furthermore, following the reporting of an incidence of AWOL, information may later come to light of extenuating circumstances for that unauthorised absence, such as compassionate, hospitalisation or travel delays beyond the individual's control. In such cases a service person may not be formally charged but the incidence is still recorded.
	
		
			   Royal Navy  Army  Royal Air Force 
			 January 5 - 1 
			 February 10 - 0 
			 March 10 - 0 
			 April 5 - 0 
			 May 10 - 0 
			 June 10 - 0 
			 July 10 - 0 
			 August 5 - 1 
			 September 10 - 0 
			 October 10 - 1 
			 November 5 - 3 
			 Total 80 (1)1,695 6 
			 (1) This is the number of recorded incidences, not the number of people AWOL or the number of charges brought.  Note: Figures for the Royal Navy and Army rounded to nearest 5.

Armed Forces: Energy

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the amount of energy consumed by HM forces in the last year.

Kevan Jones: The estimated energy consumed across the MOD in financial year 2008-09 and the associated CO2 emissions are provided in the following table.
	In many areas of Defence, civil servants work alongside serving members of the Armed Forces. This makes it impossible to distinguish between energy used by HM Armed Forces and that used by civil servants. As such, the figures provided are for the MOD as a whole.
	
		
			Motive f uel   
			   Estate  e nergy  Ground  Aviation  Marine  Business administrative t ravel  Total 
			 Energy (TWh) 6.0 0.9 10.3 2.7 n/a 19.9 
			 CO2 (Mt) 1.8 0.2 2.7 0.7 0.2 5.6 
		
	
	These data have been calculated using the DEFRA 2008 conversion factors. This is to ensure that Estate emissions data are comparable with previous years, enabling us to demonstrate a 12.5 per cent. reduction against our 1999-2000 baseline-thus meeting the Government target two years early.
	The DEFRA conversion factors do not provide a mechanism for converting miles travelled on business into TWh so the data have only been provided as CO2 emissions.
	Further information about the calculation of MOD energy use can be found on the UK Defence Statistics Website at the following link;
	http://bravo.dasa.r.mil.uk/modintranet/UKDS/UKDS2009/c7/sec1intro.html

Armed Forces: Housing

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will bring forward proposals to build new soldier accommodation in  (a) Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency,  (b) the Highlands and  (c) Scotland.

Kevan Jones: The Department is in the process of finalising its 2010 Planning Round which sets out its plans for the coming years. It would be premature to provide details but the building of new accommodation in Scotland will be given due consideration in the context of other defence priorities.

Armed Forces: Housing

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many houses owned by his Department in  (a) Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency,  (b) the Highlands and  (c) Scotland are rated as grade (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three and (iv) four.

Kevan Jones: Service family accommodation (SFA) is assessed by Standard for Condition (SfC), an objective assessment of the physical condition of the property. Properties are rated from S1fC (the highest) to S4fC (the lowest). The Ministry of Defence (MOD) no longer allocates properties at S4fC, and no family is required to live in properties at S4fC other than by personal choice.
	Properties at S3fC are only allocated where no other property is available. The MOD aims to have all UK SFA at Standard 1 or 2 for Condition by 2013, and all properties at S1fC by 2020. It is not possible to provide the information in the format requested, however, current SfC data for Scotland are provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Standard for Condition (SfC)  Number 
			 S1fC 3,102 
			 S2fC 123 
			 S3fC 1 
			 S4fC 0 
			 Total 3,226 
		
	
	In addition, SFA is assessed by Grade for Charge (GfC), an assessment that sets the level of charges that families pay. This assessment takes into account not only the physical condition of the property but also environmental factors, such as noise and proximity to local amenities. It is therefore possible for SFA to have a high SfC assessment but a low GfC. Again, it is not possible to provide the information in the format requested, however SFA in Scotland is at the following GfC:
	
		
			  Grade for Charge  Number 
			 Grade 1 1,116 
			 Grade 2 1,336 
			 Grade 3 481 
			 Grade 4 293 
			 Total 3,226

Armed Forces: Pay

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) overpayments and  (b) underpayments of salary there were to armed forces personnel resident in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency in each month since January 2008; and of what amount in each case.

Kevan Jones: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 October 2009,  Official Report, column 1363W, to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Willie Rennie).

Armed Forces: Pensions

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many veterans receive pensions under the provisions of the  (a) Gurkha Pension Scheme,  (b) Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2005 and  (c) Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975; and if he will make a statement.

Kevan Jones: As at 30 September 2009 the number of members and dependants receiving pensions under the Gurkha Pension Scheme was 24,164, the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2005 was 1,281 and the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 1975 was 371,140.

British Atomic Veterans' Claimants Group

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent representations he has received from the British Atomic Veterans' Claimants Group.

Kevan Jones: I received a letter dated 11 November 2009 on behalf of the British Atomic Veterans Claimant Group. I understand that a similar letter was sent to all Members of Parliament with one or more atomic veterans in their constituency.
	The letter explains that many of the veterans view recognition as more important than substantial compensation. I should therefore like to reiterate the statement I made in the House on 22 October 2008,  Official Report, columns 421-24, which is that the Ministry of Defence recognises the debt of gratitude we have to the servicemen who took part in the nuclear tests. They were important tests that helped to keep this nation secure at a difficult time in terms of nuclear technology. There is a memorial to British Nuclear Test Veterans at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
	At the conclusion of his judgment Mr. Justice Foskett said
	The Government is, of course, pledged to settle legal cases by alternative dispute resolution in all suitable cases whenever the other party agrees to it. In my view, this is such a case.
	The Ministry of Defence has adhered to the judge's wish but, unfortunately, I cannot reveal the contents of the negotiations because this would breach the confidentiality agreement between the parties. However, I can say that genuine negotiations have taken place between the parties respective counsels and a settlement proposal was made by the Ministry of Defence (although I cannot disclose the amount). To date, no response has been received from the claimants' counsel or the law firm representing them (Rosenblatts). This is obviously disappointing, but we remain open to meaningful discussions. In the meantime, we have been left with no option but to proceed with our appeal for which the High Court judge has given us permission. I understand the appeal is listed for a three week window starting on 4 May 2010.

Capita

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether any contracts between Capita Group plc and his Department have been cancelled before completion since 1997; and whether Capita Group plc has been liable for any penalties arising from failings in the administration of contracts since 1997.

Bob Ainsworth: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Capita

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions Capita Group plc tendered for contracts let by his Department in each of the last five years; how many such tenders were successful; how much his Department paid to Capita Group plc for the execution of contracts in each such year; how many contracts which terminate after 2010 Capita Group plc hold with his Department; and what the monetary value is of all outstanding contracts between his Department and Capita Group plc.

Quentin Davies: Information regarding how many occasions Capita Group plc has tendered for contracts let by MOD in each of the last five years, and how many such tenders were successful, is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	In the last five complete financial years, the amount of money paid to companies that are part of the Capita Group plc is provided in the following table:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 2004-05 4.4 
			 2005-06 4.6 
			 2006-07 3.3 
			 2007-08 3.5 
			 2008-09 4.2 
			  Note: Rounded to nearest £100,000 
		
	
	The MOD Financial Management Shared Service Centre (FMSSC) contracts database currently shows seven contracts with Capita Group plc that are expected to terminate after 31 December 2010 at a current total value of £52 million (rounded to the nearest million).

Cluster Munitions

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether cluster munitions are stored at  (a) RAF Lakenheath and  (b) other RAF bases occupied and controlled by US visiting forces.

Bill Rammell: The United States Visiting Force (USVF) stores various weapons in the UK. The USVF inventory of weapons is declared annually to the Ministry of Defence who ensure all weapons are appropriately licensed and stored. For operational and security reasons, and to ensure relations between the UK and US are not prejudiced, it would be inappropriate to disclose the numbers, types and locations of such weapons.

Defence Equipment

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many equipment failure reports  (a) were filed in each year since 2003 and  (b) have been filed for each armoured vehicle type in (i) 2008 and (ii) 2009.

Quentin Davies: As reported by the users, the approximate number of equipment failure reports filed in each year since 2003, for each armoured vehicle types are provided in the following table.
	
		
			  Vehicle type  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009 (so far) 
			 AS90 408 237 179 101 56 136 119 
			 AFV430 Mk2 447 480 363 325 289 262 246 
			 Bulldog n/a n/a n/a n/a 165 278 89 
			 Challenger 2 2,467 1,737 1,629 1,369 1,148 1,503 1,359 
			 CRARRV 139 356 304 226 166 148 127 
			 CVR(T) 445 252 194 372 304 465 333 
			 Fuchs 29 5 8 19 1 0 0 
			 Mastiff n/a n/a n/a n/a 163 317 206 
			 Panther n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 124 561 
			 Ridgback n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 51 
			 Saxon 45 66 21 10 4 1 0 
			 Shielder 6 3 15 8 9 11 2 
			 Stormer 67 54 59 30 50 62 38 
			 Snatch 48 211 380 362 117 21 20 
			 Titan n/a n/a n/a 153 418 333 141 
			 Trojan n/a n/a n/a 131 677 469 597 
			 Vector n/a n/a n/a n/a 56 189 59 
			 Viking 0 71 52 48 122 59 9 
			 Warrior 590 668 576 899 603 738 530 
		
	
	The Equipment Failure Reporting System (EFRS) is the mandated system for equipment users to report failures, such as accidental damage, maintenance related failures and breakdowns, or the failure of an item fitted to the vehicle. It does not incorporate the results of subsequent investigations and therefore does not differentiate between what might later prove to have been a problem caused by operator error or damage sustained as a result of operations. Nor do these dates record the severity of a failure which might have no discernible impact on operational capability or safety.

Defence Equipment

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what equipment over the value of £100,000 his Department has authorised the armed forces to gift to other nations in each of the last five years.

Quentin Davies: The following equipment gifts to other nations, valued above £100,000, were authorised by the Department in the last five years:
	 2009-10
	Four permanent structures and contents, located within the contingency operating base, Basra, were gifted to the United States of America on the withdrawal of UK forces. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 8 May 2009. Value £456,886.
	 2008-09
	Military equipment gifted to the Pakistani Government. Value £174,712.
	Non-lethal equipment including vehicles and Barrett radios to the Government of Sierra Leone. Value £101,300.
	 2007-08
	49 Jaguar spares and a Challenger 2 Loader Trainer to the Government of Oman. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 24 April 2007. Value £1,174,178. This is £50,000 less than reported to Parliament in the departmental minute. This is because the value of the Challenger 2 Loader Trainer was reduced from £150,000 to £100,000.
	15 x Up-armoured light protected vehicles (High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs)) and a support package to the Government of Afghanistan. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 10 July 2007. Value £1,620,000.
	25 field ambulances to the Government of Afghanistan. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 4 March 2008. Value £1,516,320.
	Corrimecs, ablution units and associated accommodation stores to the European Union force (EUFOR). Value £105,000.
	Ammunition to the Afghan Territorial Force Helmand Province. Value £180,000.
	3 x Search Equipment Sets to the Lebanese Government. Value £115,345. Infrastructure, accommodation and miscellaneous stores to the Iraqi Palace Protection Force. Value £178,079.
	Demining equipment to the Sudanese mine action office. Value £166,789.
	 2006-07
	Three infrastructure projects and equipment to the Iraqi Government. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 18 April 2006. Value £20,363,000.
	Camp Smitty and Camp Driftwood infrastructure to the Government of Iraq. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 21 June 2006. Value £314,000.
	Camp Abu Naji (Maysan) Infrastructure to the Government of Iraq. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 28 June 2006. Value £291,000.
	Up to 50 type 110 Landrovers to the Lebanese armed forces. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 9 October 2006. Value £1,000,000.
	Cash gift to the Afghan Government to equip Afghan Territorial Force in Helmand Province. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 30 October 2006. Value £500,000.
	Non-lethal military equipment for the Palestinian presidential guard. Details of the transfer were notified in a departmental minute dated 8 February 2007. Value £375,627.
	Non-lethal military equipment to the Government of Nepal. Details of the transfer were notified in a departmental minute dated 12 February 2007. Value £850,000.
	 2005-06
	Infrastructure, vehicles and communication equipment to the Government of Iraq. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 12 October 2005. Value £15,500,000.
	Infrastructure and police vehicles to the Government of Iraq. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 11 January 2006. Value £19,600,000.
	Non-lethal explosive ordnance device (EOD) equipment to the Government of Nepal. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 25 May 2005. Value £376,260. (This replaced the withdrawn proposal originally notified on 20 January 2005.)
	Operational ration packs to the Government of the USA in aid of Hurricane Katrina. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons retrospectively in a departmental minute dated 6 February 2006. Value £3,114,845.
	 2004-05
	Non-lethal military equipment to the Government of Nepal. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 10 May 2004. Value £3,530,000.
	Non-lethal military equipment to the Government of Sierra Leone. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 23 June 2004. Value £4,476,000.
	Military equipment and infrastructure to the Iraqi Interim Government. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 10 November 2004. Value £2,500,000.
	Military equipment to the Iraqi Interim Government. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 2 December 2004. Value £15,000,000.
	Military equipment to the Iraqi Interim Government. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 15 December 2004. Value £3,600,000.
	Non-lethal equipment to the Palestinian Authority. Value £450,000. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 20 December 2004. Value £450,000.
	Military equipment to the Iraqi Interim Government. Details of the transfer were notified to the House of Commons in a departmental minute dated 25 January 2005. Value £6,200,000.

Defence Medical Services: Manpower

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel in each medical and dental personnel division in the Defence Medical Services are  (a) required and  (b) trained.

Kevan Jones: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 3 December 2009,  Official Report, columns 906-07W.

Defence: International Cooperation

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many flights the United Kingdom have used under the NATO Strategic Airlift Interim Solution since March 2006; and what the  (a) total cost and  (b) cost per flight has been.

Kevan Jones: Since March 2006 there have been 141 one way flights undertaken using the NATO Strategic Airlift Interim Solution, at a total cost of £25 million. The estimated cost per flight is £178,000.

Defence: International Cooperation

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) pallets and  (b) tonnes of military equipment and cargo have been shipped to Afghanistan by (i) the Royal Air Force and (ii) aircraft leased under the NATO Strategic Airlift Interim Solution.

Kevan Jones: Information regarding the number of pallets airlifted is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Between 1 November 2008 and 31 October 2009 a total of 7,726 tonnes of freight have been airlifted to Afghanistan by RAF transport aircraft.
	In the same time period 2,460 tonnes have been delivered using aircraft chartered under the NATO Strategic Airlift Interim Solution.

Departmental Contracts

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what criteria his Department uses in determining the award of contracts; and how much his Department has spent on the advertisement of tenders for Government contracts since 1997.

Quentin Davies: The Ministry of Defence uses the most economically advantageous tender as the criterion for determining the award of contracts. This includes sub-criteria such as quality, price, technical merit, functional and environmental characteristics. Straightforward, low-value purchases may, however, be made on the basis of the tender that meets our requirement and offers the lowest price.
	The Ministry of Defence has not spent any money on the advertisement of tenders for Government contracts since 1997, when following a competition the Department placed a contract to provide this service, which is funded by subscriptions from potential tenderers.

EU Battlegroups

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what unit will form the UK's commitment to the EU battle group in the first half of 2010.

Bill Rammell: The UK's commitment to one of the two EU Battlegroups on standby in the first half of 2010 will be formed from 42 Commando and the Joint Force Headquarters.

Ex-servicemen: Radiation Exposure

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of service veterans who were present at atomic weapons tests in the 1950s and 1960s who have died of conditions connected to their service in each of the last five years.

Kevan Jones: The War Pensions Scheme provides no-fault compensation to all former service personnel where illness, injury or death is caused by service before 6 April 2005.
	Although the war pension computer system contains details of medical conditions relating to claims for war disablement pensions, details of the specific causes of these medical conditions are not recorded. Therefore to provide the information requested would require the manual search of many thousands of files and this could be done only at disproportionate cost.

Germany: British Forces Post Office

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his most recent assessment is of the future of the British Forces Post Office in Germany.

Bill Rammell: From September 2010, BFPO 109 (Ramstein) will see an adjusted service. Armed forces personnel will no longer fulfil the postal functions and some counter services will cease, however, we will employ dependants and civilians locally to run a basic postal receipt and despatch facility. Critically, the BFPO number, which is so useful for administrative purposes such as banking and internet shopping, will be retained. No further changes to British Forces Post Offices in Germany are currently planned.

Iraq and Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what reports he has received of allegations of rape involving members of  (a) UK forces and  (b) private security firms registered in the UK in (i) Iraq and (ii) Afghanistan since 2001; and what steps he has taken in response to those reports.

Bob Ainsworth: In respect of UK Forces only, the information is not held in the format requested.
	Any allegation of an offence involving UK Forces is fully investigated by the relevant Service Police authorities and if there is sufficient evidence to refer a disciplinary or criminal charge they will do so in accordance with the Armed Forces Act of 2006.
	Private security firms are not the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence and as such are not subject to military law where the service police have jurisdiction.

Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) court cases and  (b) courts martial remain outstanding regarding accusations against British troops involved in the Iraq conflict.

Bob Ainsworth: 15 judicial review proceedings have been issued relating to accusations of mistreatment and challenging the extra-territorial application of the ECHR in Iraq. In addition, proceedings have been issued in 46 personal injury claims. The MOD has also been notified of 36 potential judicial reviews, and letters of claim have been received in 21 personal injury claims. Some of these cover the same alleged incidents and claimants. All allegations are investigated as fully as possible.
	There are no such cases where courts-martial are outstanding.

Kentigern House

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff were employed at his Department's Kentigern House site in Glasgow in each of the last 10 years.

Kevan Jones: The approximate number of staff working at Kentigern House in Glasgow over the past 10 years is shown in the table.
	
		
			   Total 
			 2009 1,400 
			 2008 1,510 
			 2007 1,800 
			 2006 1,750 
			 2005 1,740 
			 2004 1,660 
			 2003 1,750 
			 2002 1,700 
			 2001 1,800 
			 2000 1,540 
		
	
	Roughly 60 per cent. of staff work for the Army personnel centre and the remainder are either attached to various other MOD organisations or contractors.

Kentigern House

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the maintenance costs were for his Department's Kentigern House site in Glasgow in each of the last 10 years.

Kevan Jones: The following table illustrates the maintenance costs for the Kentigern House site since Financial Year (FY) 2004-05.
	
		
			   £ 
			 2004-05 820,616 
			 2005-06 930,733 
			 2006-07 450,475 
			 2007-08 312,072 
			 2008-09 425,701 
		
	
	Records of specific maintenance costs prior to 2003 which were provided under a different system are not available.

Reserve Forces

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what savings or efficiency measures are being made from the  (a) Royal Naval Reserve and  (b) Royal Auxiliary Air Force budgets in 2009-10.

Bill Rammell: The budget for training Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Marine Reserve for financial year 2009-10 has been reduced by £0.189 million. The reduction is being managed by individual units.
	The budget for RAF Honnington, which runs eight Royal Auxiliary Air Force squadrons, has been reduced by £0.5 million for financial year 2009-10. This has been achieved by reducing the number of training days.
	Neither of these reductions will affect bounty payments, or support to current operations.

Scientists

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions he has met  (a) the Government chief scientific adviser and  (b) his Department's chief scientific adviser in the course of his official duties in the last 12 months.

Bob Ainsworth: I have not met the Government chief scientific adviser since my appointment. As with other senior departmental advisers, I meet with the Ministry of Defence chief scientific adviser as required in the course of my official duties.

Somalia: Piracy

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the terms of reference for Operation Atalanta are; what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the operation to date; how many war ships from each country are involved in the operation; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: Operation Atalanta does not have terms of reference as such. The tasks of the mission, set out in a mandate agreed by member states, are the protection of vessels of the WFP (World Food Programme) delivering food aid to displaced persons in Somalia; the protection of vulnerable vessels cruising off the Somali coast; and the deterrence, prevention and repression of acts of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast.
	The conduct of the mission is governed by an operation plan (OPLAN) drawn up by the operation commander (currently Rear Admiral Peter Hudson Royal Navy) and agreed by member states.
	Our assessment is that Operation Atalanta continues to be an effective counter piracy operation. Pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden has dramatically reduced and we are seeing unprecedented coordination between international navies and merchant shipping. Furthermore, as at 13 November 2009 the EU naval force had successfully escorted 51 World Food Programme (WFP) vessels, carrying 290,000 tons of aid to Somalia.
	The number of warships assigned to Operation Atalanta (as of 20 November) are as follows:
	
		
			  Country  Number of ships 
			 France 1 
			 Germany 1 
			 Netherlands (1)1 
			 Belgium 1 
			 Greece 1 
			 Norway 1 
			 Spain (2)1+1 
			 (1) Flag ship (2) The second Spanish frigate is available to the operation commander.

Trident Missiles

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to modify the gas transfer system of the Trident warhead as part of the Mk4A refurbishment programme; and in which country the gas transfer system will be manufactured.

Quentin Davies: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Defence on 3 December 2009,  Official Report, column 911W. As for any modifications planned for this system, it is Ministry of Defence policy not to comment on details of UK warhead design as to do so would, or would be likely to, prejudice national security and defence in the UK.

Trident Missiles

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the projected cost is of the Mk4A refurbishment programme for Trident warheads; and what proportion of this expenditure he expects to be incurred in the United States.

Quentin Davies: The overall cost to the UK of procuring the Mk4A component was an element of the estimated future costs of the Atomic Weapons Establishment as set out in chapter five of the White Paper 'The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent' (Cmd 6994), published in December 2006.
	I am withholding further details on the costs of the Mk4A programme as their release would, or would be likely to, prejudice national security and defence in the UK.

USA: Defence

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reason  (a) the classification guidelines CG-UK-2 for the exchange of material between the UK and the US were produced in 2006 and  (b) the new classification guidelines CG-US-UK-NUC-1 were produced in 2008.

Quentin Davies: Both of these documents were produced jointly by the UK and US in an effort to harmonise security classification guidance relating to sensitive nuclear information.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Alcoholic Drinks: Prices

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has had recent discussions with the devolved administrations on steps to reduce levels of crime by reducing the availability of cheap alcohol.

Alan Campbell: The Home Office has not had any recent discussions with devolved Administrations relating to the impact of cheap alcohol on levels of crime.

Antisocial Behaviour: Alcoholic Drinks

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make an assessment of the likely effects on the level of anti-social behaviour of a minimum unit price for alcohol.

Alan Campbell: We understand that there is a real concern about the possible links between cheap alcohol and antisocial behaviour. However, the evidence is inconclusive as to whether the introduction of a minimum unit price would reduce alcohol related crime and disorder. While there is evidence that cheap alcohol is linked to people drinking more and subsequent harm to their health, it is important that any Government interventions reduce harm without impacting unduly on the majority of responsible drinkers. We will look to develop further the evidence base in this area with a view to identifying concrete proposals for action which reduce irresponsible, harmful and/or binge drinking without impacting unduly on the majority of responsible drinkers.

Asylum

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department from which 50 parliamentary constituencies the UK Border Agency received the highest number of enquiries regarding asylum cases that are  (a) legacy cases,  (b) non-legacy cases and  (c) out-of-country visa applications ranked from highest to lowest in each of the last four years.

Phil Woolas: The information requested is not available in the format required and could be obtained only by the detailed examination of individual records at disproportionate cost.

British Nationality: Assessments

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the administration of the citizenship tests has cost since the inception of such tests.

Phil Woolas: UKBA have a commercial contract with the Ufi (formerly University for industry) to provide the Life in the UK test. Candidates taking the Life in the UK test pay a fee of £34 to the test centre. There is no limit on how many times a candidate may take the test and the fee is payable each time a test is taken. The fee is set at a level to meet the costs of delivering the overall testing service, there are no costs incurred by UKBA.

Burglary

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many burglaries were recorded by police in  (a) England and  (b) North East Cambridgeshire in each of the last 10 years.

Alan Campbell: Information on the number of burglaries recorded by the police in England is given in the following tables. Data for North East Cambridgeshire are not collected centrally.
	
		
			  Table 1: Offences of burglary recorded by the police in England-2000-01 and 2001-02 
			   Number of offences 
			 1999-2000 869,704 
			 2000-01 803,144 
			 2001-02 846,301 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Offences of burglary recorded by the police in England-2002-03 to 2008-09( 1) 
			   Number of offences 
			 2002-03 851,988 
			 2003-04 783,970 
			 2004-05 649,973 
			 2005-06 617,726 
			 2006-07 594,297 
			 2007-08 556,259 
			 2008-09 555,137 
			 (1) The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced in 2002/03 and data before and after that date are not directly comparable.

Burglary

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many reports of burglary were received by the police in  (a) Ashford constituency and  (b) Kent in each year since 2005.

Alan Campbell: Information on reports of burglary received by the police is not available centrally. The available information relates to offences of burglary recorded by the police in the Ashford local authority area and the Kent police force area and is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Offences of burglary recorded by the police in the Ashford local authority area and the Kent police force area 
			  Number of offences 
			   Ashford  Kent 
			 2005-06 987 16,518 
			 2006-07 971 16,708 
			 2007-08 970 14,591 
			 2008-09 877 12,822

Crime and Disorder Act 1988

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people under the age of 16 years have been convicted of an offence under section 1(10) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1988 in each of the last five years.

Alan Campbell: Information is provided by the Ministry of Justice on how many people under the age of 16 years have been convicted of an offence under section 1(10) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1988 in each of the last five years.
	Centrally collected data on breaches of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) are currently available for ASBOs issued between 1 June 2000 and 31 December 2007. The available published data show that during that period 3,853 persons aged between 10 and 17 were convicted of breaching their ASBO on at least one occasion. No breakdown by year is available.

Crime: Offensive Weapons

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes involving the use of a knife were recorded by police in  (a) England and  (b) North East Cambridgeshire constituency in each of the last 10 years.

Alan Campbell: The Home Office has collected data on knife and sharp instrument offences since April 2007 via a special additional data collection. Data are therefore only available for two years. The data are collected at force level only, so data for North East Cambridgeshire are not available.
	In 2007-08, the data collection covered the following offences: attempted murder, GBH and robbery. The total number of offences involving the use of a knife/sharp instrument recorded by the police in England in 2007-08 was close to 24,000.
	In 2008-09, the collection was expanded to include threats to kill, ABH, rape and sexual assaults. Therefore, the figures between the two years are not comparable. The total number of offences involving the use of a knife or sharp instrument recorded by the police in England in 2008-09 was close to 35,000.
	There is a further reason why the figures are not fully comparable. Some forces in 2007-08 included, for technical reasons, a number of 'unbroken' bottle offences, which is outside the defined scope of the collection. For 2008-09, the majority of forces within England could supply data excluding unbroken bottles, with four Home Office forces still unable to remove them from their returns.
	These figures do not include homicide, as these are collected from the separate Homicide Index. In 2007-08, there were 259 knife or sharp instrument homicides in England. Figures for 2008-09 are pre-announced to be published on the 21 January 2010.

DNA: Databases

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  whether any Government Ministers have a record on the National DNA Database;
	(2)  how many  (a) hon. Members,  (b) police officers,  (c) children,  (d) old age pensioners,  (e) members of the House of Lords and  (f) judges have records on the National DNA Database.

Alan Campbell: The National DNA Database (NDNAD) is an intelligence database which matches DNA found at crime scenes with DNA profiles of individuals. It also provides police with potential leads on the identity of an offender. An individual may have their DNA profile loaded onto the NDNAD if they have been arrested for a recordable offence or if they have volunteered their DNA to assist in a criminal investigation and also provided separate written consent for the resulting profile to be loaded onto the NDNAD.
	The NDNAD stores only limited personal information about the identity of those with a profile held on it. Only an individual's name, date of birth, gender and ethnic appearance are recorded. Details of occupation are not held therefore it is not possible to say how many Government Ministers, hon. Members, Members of the House of Lords or judges have a DNA profile held on the NDNAD.
	As with the other occupations listed in the question, it is not possible to give the number of police officers with a profile held on the NDNAD. A police officer may have voluntarily given a DNA sample for the NDNAD, or, like any other citizen, a police officer arrested for a recordable offence may have a DNA sample taken as a result.
	However, there is also a separate DNA database known as the Police Elimination Database (PED) which holds the DNA profiles of serving police officers, who are potentially capable of leaving DNA at a crime scene in the course of their duties. PED searches are carried out only if a senior investigating officer requests a comparison of DNA profiles from a specified officer or officers with a DNA profile from a specified crime, unlike NDNAD searches which compare all profiles from crime scenes with all profiles from known individuals. Since 1 August 2002, all new recruits to the police service have been required to give a DNA sample as a condition of employment. As at 30 September 2009 there were 118,699 records held on the PED for England and Wales police forces. However, as the PED also holds the profiles of certain police staff such as scenes of crime officers and vehicle examiners and does not contain the details of people's professions, we are not able to state how many of these records relate to police officers.
	As the date of birth of an individual is recorded alongside their profile it is possible to provide information on the number of profiles belonging to children and over 65s held on the NDNAD. This information (for England and Wales police forces only) is provided in the table and reflects the individual's age on 16 October 2009.
	The number of profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. This is because some of the profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates, that is, an individual may have more than one profile held on the NDNAD. This may happen if, for example, an individual gives a different name on different arrest occasions. The existence of replicates does not affect the integrity or effectiveness of the NDNAD. The current replication rate across the entire NDNAD is 13.8 per cent.
	The data presented are based on a snapshot of the NDNAD as at 16 October 2009. The data on the NDNAD are constantly changing as records are added and removed, hence the figures are a snapshot of the records at a single point in time. The data are management information and have not been formally assessed for compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
	
		
			  Table showing number of profiles belonging to children aged under 18 and adults aged 65 and over held on the NDNAD at 16 October 2009 (England and Wales forces only) 
			  Age  Number of profiles( 1) 
			 Under 10 0 
			 10-15 117,266 
			 16-17 190,897 
			 65 and over 117,450 
			 (1) Due to replication on the NDNAD the number of profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. The replication rate across the whole NDNAD (all forces) is estimated at 13.8 per cent.  Source: National DNA Database, NPIA, as at 16 October 2009

DNA: Databases

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the report of the Human Genetics Commission entitled Nothing to hide, nothing to fear, whether he has received evidence of people being arrested for the purposes of adding their DNA samples to the National DNA Database; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Campbell: There is no objective evidence to suggest that the police are arresting people for the purpose of obtaining their DNA. The taking of a person's liberty by arresting them is not undertaken lightly. That is why the power of arrest is subject to a test of necessity, set out in section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). Police officers are also required to have regard to the statutory guidance in the exercise of the power of arrest, which is set out in Code of Practice G, one of the codes of practice issued under PACE.

DNA: Databases

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of  (a) black,  (b) Asian and  (c) white males aged between 18 and 35 years have records on the National DNA Database.

Alan Campbell: It is not possible at present to calculate accurately the proportion of members of ethnic groups in the population as a whole who are on the NDNAD. This is because the data held on the NDNAD are not directly comparable with census population data. The NDNAD does not hold self-reported ethnicity data on arrested persons who have a DNA sample taken, but on their 'ethnic appearance'. The ethnic appearance data is based on the judgment of the police officer and is recorded for police intelligence purposes to assist in subsequent identification. It uses six broad ethnic categories (plus 'unknown') whereas census data are based on 16 ethnic groups self-reported by individuals.
	Estimates of the proportion of different ethnic groups on the NDNAD calculated by simply dividing the number of profiles by the population data will give an inaccurate estimate as a number of other factors also need to be taken into account. Examples of these factors are the number of profiles from persons of mixed race, the number of profiles of unknown ethnicity, the number of replicate profiles and the use of comparable up-to-date population data. The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) is working to produce an estimate which is as accurate and robust as possible.
	Data are available on the number of DNA profiles from people with black, asian or white ethnic appearance aged between 18 and 35 years on the NDNAD. The following table displays the number of subject profiles retained on the NDNAD as at 16 October 2009 for males aged 18-35 inclusive (based on current age as at 16 October 2009) for England and Wales police forces, including the British Transport Police (BTP). The figures cover all subject profiles.
	The number of profiles is not the same as the number of individuals. This is because some of the profiles held on the NDNAD are replicates, that is, an individual may have more than one profile held on the NDNAD. This may happen if, for example, an individual gives a different name on different arrest occasions. The existence of replicates does not affect the integrity or effectiveness of the NDNAD. The current replication rate across the entire NDNAD is 13.8 per cent.
	The data presented are based on a snapshot of the NDNAD as at 16 October 2009. The data on the NDNAD are constantly changing as records are added and removed, hence the figures are a snapshot of the records at a single point in time. The data are management information and have not been formally assessed for compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
	
		
			  Table showing the number of DNA subject profiles from black, asian and white males aged 18-35 inclusive (based on current age as at 16 October 2009) on the national DNA database (England and Wales forces only, including BTP). 
			  Ethnic appearance category  Number of DNA profiles 
			 Asian 172,846 
			 Black 193,593 
			 North European 1,817,035 
			 South European 54,630 
			  Source: National DNA Database, NPIA, as at 16 October 2009

Domestic Violence

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people reported incidents of domestic abuse in each of the last three years.

Alan Campbell: Information on how many incidents of domestic abuse are reported to the police is not centrally available because it is not possible to identify cases of domestic violence reported to and recorded by the police; such offences are not specifically defined by law and details of the individual circumstances of offences are not collected.
	However, the British Crime Survey (BCS), which includes crimes not reported to the police, routinely provides information on the number of incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales; that is, violent incidents perpetrated by a partner, ex-partner or family member. The 2008-09 BCS estimates 293,000 incidents of domestic violence, 343,000 in the 2007-08 BCS and 407, 000 in the 2006-07 BCS (representing a statistically significant fall between 2006-07 BCS and 2008-09 BCS). Of these incidents, the proportion where the victim reported the incident to the police was 47 per cent. in the 2008-09 BCS, 40 per cent. in 2007-08 and 44 per cent. in 2006-07 (no statistically significant change in proportions).

Domestic Violence: Alcoholic Drinks

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has made an assessment of a link between alcohol misuse and the incidence of domestic violence.

Alan Campbell: The British Crime Survey 2007-08 reports that 37 per cent. of domestic violence incidents involve offenders who are perceived to be under the influence of alcohol.
	There are a number of Alcohol Arrest Referral schemes in operation which aim to reduce re-offending among people arrested for alcohol-related offences. People who are arrested on suspicion of alcohol-related domestic violence in AAR pilot areas may be referred to a domestic violence specialist adviser and encouraged to address their behaviour and the consequences of their unsafe drinking.
	We will continue to work with our stakeholders to better understand the role that both alcohol and drugs play in contributing to incidents of domestic violence.

Driving Offences

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what date the Motoring Offence and Breath Test statistics for  (a) 2008 and  (b) 2009 will be published; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Campbell: Information on police action in relation to motoring offences, as well as breath tests conducted in 2008 will be published as a part of the Home Office Bulletin 'Police Powers and Procedures, England and Wales 2008/09'. The bulletin is scheduled to be published in March 2010 and will be available on the Home Office RDS website at
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/police-powers.html
	The publication date for the same bulletin covering 2009-10 data has yet to be agreed.

Entry Clearances

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many permits have been granted under  (a) Tier 1 (general),  (b) Tier 1 (post study entry),  (c) Tier 2 (shortage occupation),  (d) Tier 2 (intra-company transfer),  (e) Tier 2 (resident labour market test),  (f) Tier 4 (students) and  (g) Tier 4 (working holiday makers) scheme in each month since they came into operation.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 30 November 2009
	The following tables provide detail of the numbers of in-country grants of leave to remain and out of country visas issued under  (a) Tier 1 (General),  (b) Tier 1 (Post Study Work),  (d) Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer),  (f) Tier 4 (students) and  (g) Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme) in each month since they came into operation. Information relating to approved applications in shortage occupations  (c), or for those jobs where a resident labour market test is required  (e), is held on the UK Border Agency Sponsor IT System is available only at disproportionate costs.
	The working holidaymaker scheme ended on 26 November 2008. A similar scheme Youth Mobility Scheme has been introduced within Tier 5 of the Points Based System. Figures for that scheme are as follows:
	
		
			  2008 
			   (a) Tier 1 (general)  (b) Tier 1 (post study)  (d) Tier 2 (ICT)  (f) Tier 4 (child)  (f) Tier 4 (general)  (g) Tier 5 (youth mobility) 
			   IC  OOC  IC  OOC  IC  OOC  IC  OOC  IC  OOC  IC  OOC 
			 March 33 - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 April 603 20 - - - - - - - - - - 
			 May 1,051 128 - - - - - - - - - - 
			 June 1,594 117 - - - - - - - - - - 
			 July 1,493 416 86 47 - - - - - - - - 
			 August 1,097 803 1,005 84 - - - - - - - - 
			 September 1,321 1,145 3,332 110 - - - - - - - - 
			 October 1,660 1,614 6,308 134 - - - - - - - - 
			 November 1,003 1,834 6,616 178 - - - - - - - 4 
			 December 989 1,711 2,394 206 11 47 - - - - - 372 
		
	
	
		
			  2009 
			   (a) Tier 1 (general)  (b) Tier 1 (post study)  (d) Tier 2 (ICT)  (f) Tier 4 (child)  (f) Tier 4 (general)  (g) Tier 5 (youth mobility) 
			   IC  OOC  IC  OOC  IC  OOC  IC  OOC  IC  OOC  IC  OOC 
			 March 639 2,281 2,051 319 185 1,002 - - - - - 1,890 
			 April 1,025 2,024 4,556 375 503 1,461 - - - - - 1,560 
			 May 2,491 2,376 4,553 372 573 1,893 15 - - - - 3,306 
			 June 3,205 1,864 1,857 298 478 1,756 367 37 - 957 - 1,169 
			 July 2,079 1,078 751 338 585 1,745 694 77 3 4,386 - 2,896 
			 August 446 785 198 379 831 2,163 1,995 404 11 12,127 - 1,839 
			 September 429 560 1,132 300 806 2,009 5,361 1,231 13 30,528 - 1,555 
			 October 422 594 1,292 356 528 1,975 5,199 3,101 19 53,572 - 1,101 
			 November 464 640 1,700 396 463 2,109 6,921 1,000 46 62,006 - 1,124 
			 December 466 643 2,235 422 551 1,893 9,170 269 105 24,586 - 1,231 
			 IC = In-country grants of leave to remain. OOC = Out-of-country visas issued.  Note: The table is based on approved Main Applications only. This data is not provided under National Statistics protocols. It has been derived from local management information and is therefore provisional and subject to change.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there are plans to change the student visa process; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Woolas: There are no current plans to change the student visa process introduced on 31 March 2009 with the introduction of tier 4 of the points based system. A review of certain aspects of the system was announced on 12 November.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for entry to the UK under the points-based immigration system had been made by overseas students on the latest date for which figures are available; how many such applications were granted, and in respect of how many such applications the customer service standards set by his Department in relation to such applications were not met.

Phil Woolas: The number of visa applications for entry as a student under tier 4 of the points based system that were (a) received, and (b) refused, since the implementation of tier 4 on 31 March to September 2009 was 245,915 and 36,434, respectively.
	Processing times for tier 4 applications against UK Border Agency customer service standards are shown in the following table.
	Information about processing times for the various categories of visa applications at each of our visa application centres overseas is available on the Visa Services website
	www.ukvisas.gov.uk
	
		
			  PBS tier 4 visa application processing times 
			  Percentage 
			   Customer service standard  Global processing times Apr il to October  20 09 
			 Not more than three weeks 90 79 
			 Not more than six weeks 98 97 
			 Not more than 12 weeks 100 100 
			  Note: These data are unpublished and should be treated as provisional.  Source: Central Reference System

Firearms: Injuries

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in  (a) England,  (b) Wales,  (c) the North East and  (d) Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland constituency were (i) fatally and (ii) non-fatally wounded by a firearm in each year since 1997.

Alan Campbell: Available information relates to crimes recorded by the police in which firearms (excluding air weapons) were reported to have been used, resulting in fatal and non-fatal injury in England and Wales, England, the North East region and Cleveland police force area. Constituency level data are not collected centrally. Data for the period 1997-98 up to and including 2007-08 are given in the following table. Figures for 2008-09, including a breakdown by police force area, will be published on 21 January 2010.
	Firearms are taken to be involved in a crime if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument or used as a threat.
	
		
			  Crimes recorded by the police in which firearms (excluding air weapons) were reported to have been used( 1) , resulting in fatal and non-fatal( 2)  injury, England and Wales, England, North East Region( 3)  and Cleveland; 1997-98 to2007-08 
			   Injury type 
			  1997-98  Fatal injury  Non-fatal injury 
			 England and Wales 54 750 
			 England 52 745 
			 North East Region 1 13 
			 Cleveland - 7 
			
			  1998-99( 4)   
			 England and Wales 50 815 
			 England 50 807 
			 North East Region 5 12 
			 Cleveland 1 2 
			
			  1999-2000   
			 England and Wales 62 1,133 
			 England 62 1,124 
			 North east region 6 11 
			 Cleveland 2 3 
			
			  2000-01   
			 England and Wales 72 1,310 
			 England 71 1,275 
			 North East Region 2 12 
			 Cleveland - 3 
			
			  2001-02( 5)   
			 England and Wales 96 1,783 
			 England 94 1,761 
			 North East Region - 7 
			 Cleveland - 2 
			
			  2002-03( 6)   
			 England and Wales 80 2,099 
			 England 78 2,041 
			 North East Region - 17 
			 Cleveland - 3 
			
			  2003-04   
			 England and Wales 68 2,299 
			 England 68 2,245 
			 North East Region - 77 
			 Cleveland - 17 
			
			  2004-05( 7)   
			 England and Wales 76 3,828 
			 England 76 3,704 
			 North East Region 1 101 
			 Cleveland - 14 
			
			  2005-06   
			 England and Wales 49 3,773 
			 England 48 3,679 
			 North East Region - 75 
			 Cleveland - 28 
			
			  2006-07   
			 England and Wales 56 2,955 
			 England 56 2,855 
			 North East Region 5 48 
			 Cleveland 1 1 
			
			  2007-08   
			 England and Wales 53 3,188 
			 England 53 3,101 
			 North East Region 1 54 
			 Cleveland - 6 
			 (1) Firearms are taken to be involved in a crime if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument or used as a threat. (2) Non-fatal injuries include serious and slight injuries. (3) The Northeast Region includes: Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria police forces. (4) There was a change in the counting rules for recorded crime on 1 April 1998. (5) Figures may have been inflated by some police forces implementing the principles of the National Crime Recording Standard before 1 April 2002. (6) The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced on 1 April 2002. Figures for some crime categories may have been inflated by this. (7) More explicit guidelines for the classification of weapons introduced on 1 April 2004 may have increased the recording of firearm offences, particularly those committed by imitation weapons.

Fraud: Credit Cards

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of credit card fraud relating to remote gambling websites have been recorded in each of the last 10 years.

Alan Campbell: The information requested is not available centrally. Offences of credit card fraud relating to remote gambling websites are included in Home Office offence classification 53C 'Fraud by false representation; cheque, plastic cards and online bank accounts'. These offences cannot be separately identified from other offences recorded within that offence classification.

Homophobia: Crime

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes of violence against the person with a homophobic motive there have been in  (a) Merseyside and  (b) Wirral in the last (i) six months, (ii) 12 months, (iii) two years and (iv) five years.

Alan Campbell: There has not been a recent assessment of conviction rates for those accused of crimes of violence with homophobic motives in Merseyside.
	In September 2009 we launched the Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan which contains a number of action points designed to reduce numbers of crimes of violence across all five hate crime strands, including sexual orientation. In particular, it commits the Home Office to produce guidance for Crime and Disorder Partnerships on preventing and responding to hate incidents and hate crimes.
	There is also a range of activity taking place in the North West to combat hate crime targeted at lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals. For example, bar owners and door staff in and around the areas of Liverpool frequented by LGB communities have recently received hate crime awareness-raising training.
	Further, Liverpool's Hate Crime Reduction Forum which brings stakeholders together from across Liverpool to address all strands of hate crime, funded the As One programme which was an educational awareness programme focused on youth centres in the Kensington area encompassing antisocial behaviour and diversity awareness.

Identity Cards

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals who do not work for his Department, its executive agencies, or sponsored non-departmental public bodies, had applied for a voluntary national identity card on the latest date for which figures are available.

Meg Hillier: Since 20 October, and up to and including 3 December, 2,054 applicants have been enrolled or have made an enrolment appointment for an identity card.
	The information held on the national identity register does not include the occupation of an individual.

Immigrants: Detainees

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy not to detain asylum seekers and immigrants whose deportation is not imminent and who are not considered to be a serious threat to society; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Woolas: Detention is an essential component in maintaining an effective immigration control. It is usually appropriate in the following circumstances: initially, while a person's identity or basis of claim is being established; where there are reasonable grounds for believing that a person will fail to comply with the conditions attached to the grant of temporary admission or release; as part of a fast-track asylum process; or to effect removal.
	The decision to detain is made on case by case basis taking account of the individual circumstances in each case. Imminence of removal and risk of harm to the public are factors, among others, considered in reaching a decision.
	Detention is kept to the minimum period necessary for the purpose for which it was authorised and is not unduly prolonged. Individuals may prolong their own detention by, for example, refusing to cooperate with the redocumentation process or by frustrating lawful attempts at removal. Detention in each individual case is subject to review at increasingly senior levels within the UK Border Agency to ensure that it only lasts as long as it continues to be justified and necessary.
	We believe that the current policies support a requirement to enforce our immigration laws and we therefore have no intention of changing them at this time.

Immigration

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by what date he expects the target of deciding all applications for a residence card as the spouse of an EEA national within six months to be met.

Phil Woolas: UKBA has made significant progress to bring European applications within service standards. All new complete applications for residence cards submitted from 29 July 2009 onwards are being dealt with within six months
	UKBA has significantly reduced the number of outstanding older cases.
	Of the remaining cases, a significant proportion are complex or were not submitted with adequate supporting information. To address this issue the agency has written to affected applicants and-once the required documentation is provided-the cases will be concluded. All such cases should be resolved by early 2010.

Immigration

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure that the target of deciding all applications for a residence card as the spouse of an EEA national within six months is met.

Phil Woolas: UKBA has made significant progress to bring all European applications within service standards. All new complete European applications submitted from 29 July 2009 onwards are being dealt with within service standards with complete EEA1 applications currently decided and dispatched within a matter of working days.
	UK Border Agency has reduced the number of outstanding cases from approximately 77,000 in April to 38,000 in November. This has been done through a combination of interventions; increased resources, process improvement and performance management focus.
	Of the remaining cases, a significant proportion are complex or were not submitted with adequate supporting information. To address this issue the Agency has written to affected applicants and-once the required documentation is provided-the cases will be concluded. All such cases should be resolved by early 2010.

Individual Support Orders and Intervention Orders: Finance

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department has spent on  (a) individual support orders and  (b) intervention orders in each of the last three years.

Alan Campbell: The Home Office grant to the Youth Justice Board for prevention work has been £15 million for 2009-10, £18 million for 2008-09 and £21 million for 2007-08. This forms part of the overall Youth Justice Board budget of £32 million for evidence-based targeted prevention programmes such Youth Inclusion Support Panels. ISOs are one of the interventions funded from this budget.
	The Home Office does not directly fund intervention orders. However, funding to tackle drugs related crime and antisocial behaviour is provided to local areas to deliver drug intervention programmes. These programmes are delivered through Drug Action Teams (DATs), using Criminal Justice Integrated Teams (CJITs) who adopt a case management approach to working with drug-misusing offenders, some of whom will be subject to intervention orders.

KBR

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his Department has entered into any contracts with Kellogg, Brown and Root or its subsidiaries since January 2009.

Phil Woolas: The Home Department and its agencies have not entered into any new contracts with Kellogg Brown and Root or its subsidiaries since January 2009.
	The Home Department has one existing contract in place with Kellogg Brown and Root for the provision of National Emergency Mortuary Arrangements which was awarded in 2006 and expires in 2016.

Parenting Orders

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many parenting orders have been  (a) issued and  (b) breached in each year since 1997.

Alan Campbell: Parenting orders were piloted between 30 September 1998 and 31 March 2000 and commenced in England and Wales in June 2000.
	Data showing the breakdown of parenting orders issued for the period 30 September 1998 and 31 March 2000 are not available. The Youth Justice Board (YJB) has since April 2000 collected the number of parenting orders issued by youth offending team (YOT) area, as reported to it by youth offending teams including education-related orders where the YOT has been involved. Since September 2004, the Department for Children, Schools and Families has collected data on the number of parenting orders issued in England related to non-attendance of children at school and exclusion from school at local authority level.
	The number of parenting orders relating to crime or antisocial behaviour and those related to education as reported to the YJB by YOT area are shown in table A.
	Breach of a parenting order is a criminal offence. Information showing the number of persons proven at court to have breached a parenting order from 2003 to 2007 (latest available) is shown in table B. Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
	The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
	
		
			  Table A:  Parenting orders by legal basis England and Wales YOTs 
			  England and Wales  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  Total 
			 Crime 725 807 765 686 979 1,069 1,014 1,049 7,094 
			 Education 96 276 209 215 237 213 166 230 1,642 
			 Other 158 129 202 197 - - - - 686 
			 Referral Order - - - - 176 183 227 295 881 
			 ASBO - - - - 36 33 64 46 179 
			 Sex Offences Prevention Order - - - - 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Child Safety Order - - - - 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Free Standing-YOT - - - - 7 7 16 8 38 
			 Free Standing-LEA - - - - 0 0 18 21 39 
			 Total - - - - - - - - 10,561 
			  Note: Data for Education and Free Standing-LEA categories may not be complete, as YOTs are not always informed of these parenting orders 
		
	
	
		
			  Table B:  Number of defendants proven at court to have breached a parenting order, under section 9(7) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, from 2003 to 2007( 1) 
			   Number 
			 2003 11 
			 2004 20 
			 2005 22 
			 2006 25 
			 2007 31 
			 (1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice.

Police Cautions

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many people received  (a) four,  (b) five,  (c) six,  (d) seven,  (e) eight,  (f) nine and  (g) 10 or more police cautions in each year since 1997;
	(2)  how many people received  (a) four,  (b) five,  (c) six,  (d) seven,  (e) eight,  (f) nine and  (g) 10 or more police cautions in the period between 1997 and 2009.

Claire Ward: have been asked to reply.
	The figures requested are in the following tables. Data prior to 2000 has not been included.
	
		
			  Numbers of offenders receiving different numbers of cautions( 1)  in each year: England and Wales 
			   Number of offenders receiving: 
			   1 caution  2 cautions  3 cautions  4 cautions  5 cautions  6 cautions  7 cautions  8 cautions  9 cautions  10 or more cautions 
			 2000 210,490 21,842 3,934 1,243 529 288 148 90 45 137 
			 2001 210,012 21,140 3,891 1,148 511 220 143 86 51 135 
			 2002 213,191 20,733 3,444 1,042 401 215 105 48 31 115 
			 2003 226,407 21,904 3,610 1,042 412 175 99 77 52 106 
			 2004 230,100 24,251 4,141 1,201 474 221 124 83 47 155 
			 2005 265,660 29,335 5,149 1,414 566 269 136 81 53 182 
			 2006 301,443 35,369 6,252 1,747 697 354 164 122 72 266 
			 2007 312,192 38,280 6,824 1,807 654 350 190 122 67 263 
			 2008 285,687 34,785 5,714 1,603 581 272 171 88 60 238 
			 (1) Figures include reprimands and final warnings 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of offenders receiving different numbers of cautions( 1)  from 2000-08 
			  Number of offences resulting in a caution  Number of offenders 
			 1 1,639,891 
			 2 397,458 
			 3 104,915 
			 4 31,078 
			 5 10,884 
			 6 4,286 
			 7 2,014 
			 8 1,101 
			 9 638 
			 10 or more 1,873 
			 (1) Figures include reprimands and final warnings 
		
	
	These figures have been drawn from the police's administrative IT system, the police national computer, which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.
	Guidance to the police and Crown Prosecution Service is clear that if an offender has previously received a simple caution, then a further caution should not normally be considered unless there has been a sufficient lapse of time to suggest that a previous caution had a deterrent effect (two years or more), or if the current offence is trivial or unrelated to any previous offences. Repeat offenders should not receive cautions and ought to be prosecuted at court.
	In response to concerns, Ministers announced a review of the use of out-of-court disposals on 9 November. The terms of reference for this review will be announced shortly.

Raves: Sussex

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of illegal raves which have taken place in each district council area in East Sussex in each of the last five years; and how many  (a) crimes and  (b) accidents arising from such events were reported in each such year.

Alan Campbell: The Home Office does not hold this information.

Repatriation

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what factors his Department took into account in determining  (a) the repatriation to Malaysia of Agnes Wong and  (b) the sum which she was awarded under the Facilitated Returns Scheme; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what the maximum sum in assistance is that a foreign national can claim under  (a) the Facilitated Returns Scheme,  (b) reintegration assistance and  (c) each other form of assistance provided by his Department.

Phil Woolas: In accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act, since the hon. Member is not acting on behalf of this individual I am unable to disclose details of her case, the UK Border Agency can not disclose an individual's data to third parties without the consent of the said individual.
	The Facilitated Returns Scheme accounted for around a third of the 5,395 foreign national offenders removed in 2008.
	The Facilitated Return Scheme offers non European economic area foreign national detainees the opportunity to volunteer to return to their home country rather than await removal by the UK Border Agency. This option saves the United Kingdom taxpayer the considerable costs of detaining foreign nationals and the costly process of pursuing deportation through the courts.
	Eligible detainees are those who can be released because they have completed their sentence and are being detained solely under immigration powers (time served); those eligible for the Early Removal Scheme; or non European economic area nationals from countries with which the United Kingdom has a prisoner transfer agreement.
	Foreign national offenders removed under this scheme will now receive the equivalent of a discharge grant payable to British prisoners on their release, which is £46. This is paid on departure from the United Kingdom. In addition to this, a further sum of £454 on a pre-paid card will be given on departure which is for use on arrival in the home country.
	Those who volunteer to go home at the end of their sentence could receive a grant up to £3,000 when their sentence is finished. A large part of this is in kind.

Road Traffic Offences

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many traffic offences of each type were recorded by police in  (a) England and  (b) North-East Cambridgeshire in each of the last 10 years.

Alan Campbell: The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally.
	The Home Office collects data on notifiable offences recorded by the police. Data are available for causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by careless driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs and dangerous driving. Traffic offences such as parking and speeding etc. are not included in the police recorded crime data.
	Information on police action relating to motoring offences (penalties issued by the police such as written warnings and fixed penalty notices) can be found in chapter 3 of the Home Office Statistical Bulletin, 'Police Powers and Procedures', which can be viewed on the web link.
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/police-powers.html
	Data on court proceedings for motoring offences can be found in the Ministry of Justice Bulletin 'Criminal Statistics - England and Wales', which can be viewed on the web link.
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/criminalannual.htm

Shoplifting: Arrests

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many shoplifters were reported to police in  (a) England and  (b) North East Cambridgeshire in each of the last 10 years.

Alan Campbell: Information is not available centrally on the number of shoplifters reported to the police. The available data relate to the number of offences of shoplifting recorded by the police in England and the figures are given in the following tables. Data for North East Cambridgeshire are not collected centrally.
	
		
			  Table 1: Offences of shoplifting recorded by the police in England: 1999-2000 and 2001-02 
			   Number of offences 
			 1999-2000 278,243 
			 2000-01 279,198 
			 2001-02 291,689 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Offences of shoplifting recorded by the police in England 2002-03 to 2008-09( 1) 
			   Number of offences 
			 2002-03 294,062 
			 2003-04 286,440 
			 2004-05 265,789 
			 2005-06 279,908 
			 2006-07 278,241 
			 2007-08 274,146 
			 2008-09 302,499 
			 (1) The National Crime Recording Standard was introduced in 2002-03 and data before and after that date are not directly comparable.

Shoplifting: Arrests

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) arrests and  (b) subsequent convictions for offences of shoplifting there have been in each of the last five years.

Alan Campbell: holding answer 7 December 2009
	The information requested on arrests is not collected centrally.
	The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level only, covering categories such as robbery and theft and handling stolen goods. It is not possible to separately identify arrests for shoplifting from within these offence groups. The arrest collection does not include any information on the outcome of arrests.
	Information provided by the Ministry of Justice, showing the number of defendants found guilty at courts for shoplifting in England and Wales, 2003 to 2007 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.
	Data on court proceedings for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
	
		
			  Number of defendants found guilty at all courts for shoplifting( 1)  England and Wales, 2003 to 2007( 2,3) 
			  Offence  Statute  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 Stealing from shops and stalls (shoplifting) Theft Act 1968 Section 1 74,928 69,542 64,076 58,536 62,565 
			 (1) Stealing from 'shops and stalls' (shoplifting) is an offence under Theft Act 1968, Section 1. (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice

Speed Limits: Fines

Nick Ainger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drivers have received a fixed penalty fine for speeding in the 50 mph limit area approaching the Severn Bridge toll booths on the M4 in each of the last four years.

Alan Campbell: The information requested is not collected centrally.
	Data on fixed penalty notices issued for motoring offences provided to the Home Office are broken down to police force area level only.

Theft: Bicycles

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many bicycles have been reported stolen in each region in each year since 1997.

Alan Campbell: The available information relates to the number of thefts of pedal cycles recorded by the police and is given in the following tables.
	
		
			  Table 1: Offences of theft of a pedal cycle recorded by the police-1997 
			  Number of offences 
			 English Region and Wales 1997 
			 North East Region 6,892 
			 North West Region 16,882 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber Region 16,672 
			 East Midlands Region 13,553 
			 West Midlands Region 12,173 
			 East of England Region 16,287 
			 London Region 17,433 
			 South East Region 21,408 
			 South West Region 13,101 
			 Wales 4,691 
			 Total 139,092 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Offences of theft of a pedal cycle recorded by the police 1998-99 to 2001-02( 1, 2) 
			  Number of offences 
			  English Region and Wales  1998-99  1999-2000  2000-01  2001-02 
			 North East Region 5,372 5,996 5,283 4,795 
			 North West Region 14,584 15,069 12,628 11,744 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber Region 14,542 14,375 11,942 11,336 
			 East Midlands Region 13,125 12,661 10,709 10,088 
			 West Midlands Region 11,051 10,907 9,093 8,634 
			 East of England Region 15,471 15,765 13,144 12,333 
			 London Region 17,350 18,909 14,673 14,674 
			 South East Region 20,203 21,057 17,355 15,882 
			 South West Region 12,376 12,009 9,962 9,555 
			 Wales 4,483 4,492 3,720 3,672 
			 Total 128,557 131,240 108,509 102,713 
			 1 The coverage was extended and counting rules revised from 1998-99. Figures from that date are not directly comparable with those for 1997. 2 The data in this table is prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Offences of theft of a pedal cycle recorded by the police 2002-03 to 2008-09( 1) 
			  Number of offences 
			  English Region and Wales  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 North East Region 4,141 4,587 4,457 4,419 4,285 4,048 3,995 
			 North West Region 10,705 10,862 10,880 11,744 11,810 11,243 11,014 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber Region 10,104 10,060 8,782 9,568 9,183 8,664 8,574 
			 East Midlands Region 8,526 8,751 8,695 8,813 8,829 8,668 8,101 
			 West Midlands Region 7,021 7,149 6,499 6,999 7,157 6,852 6,377 
			 East of England Region 11,518 12,783 13,465 14,004 13,224 12,501 12,364 
			 London Region 16,239 19,616 19,636 21,574 18,962 17,471 18,579 
			 South East Region 14,540 15,901 16,910 18,349 18,191 16,683 17,461 
			 South West Region 8,795 9,252 9,536 10,308 10,839 10,115 9,743 
			 Wales 3,429 3,559 3,709 3,287 3,312 3,343 3,288 
			 Total 95,018 102,520 102,569 109,065 105,792 99,588 99,496 
			 1. The data in this table takes account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.

Tobacco: Young People

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences by  (a) confectioners and tobacconists and  (b) other retailers related to selling tobacco products to those aged under 16 years were recorded in 2008; how many police cautions for such offences were issued in each year; how many fines were imposed in each year; and what the average fine imposed in each year was.

Alan Campbell: Information on the number of recorded offences of retailers selling tobacco products to those aged under 16 years is not collected centrally. This is a summary offence and is not included in the police recorded crime statistics.
	Statistics on the number of police cautions issued, the number of fines imposed and the average fines are collected by the Ministry of Justice. Statistics for 2008 will be published on 28 January 2010. The Ministry of Justice have advised that for 2007, the latest available year, there was one police caution issued. There were 49 fines imposed and the average fine was £324.

UK Border Agency: Manpower

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the staff of the Risk and Overseas Liaison Network of the UK Border Agency are UK citizens.

Phil Woolas: The risk and overseas liaison network of the UK Border Agency has 102 officers acting as immigration liaison managers and immigration liaison officers (formerly risk assessment managers and airline liaison officers), all of whom are British citizens. They are supported by locally engaged staff.

United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for the future  (a) management and accountability structures and  (b) location of the UK Human Trafficking Centre; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Campbell: holding answer 7 December 2009
	 We are currently considering how to enhance the role and status of the UK Human Trafficking Centre. No decision has yet been taken.

Video Games: Young People

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences in respect of retailers selling video games or DVDs to underage customers  (a) in England and Wales and  (b) in each police force area were recorded in 2007 and 2008; how many related (i) police cautions and (ii) fines were issued in each of those years; and what the average such fine was in each such year.

Alan Campbell: Information on the number of recorded offences of retailers selling video games or DVDs to underage customers is not collected centrally. This is a summary offence and is not included in the police recorded crime statistics.
	Statistics on the number of police cautions issued, the number of fines imposed and the average fines are collected by the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice have advised that there were no cautions given or fines issued for this offence in 2007. Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Capita

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether any contracts between Capita Group plc and his Department have been cancelled before completion since 1997; and whether Capita Group plc has been liable for any penalties arising from failings in the administration of contracts since 1997.

Chris Bryant: This information is not held centrally and is available only at disproportionate cost.

Childbirth

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many UK citizens have  (a) given birth whilst abroad and  (b) registered a birth at a British embassy in each of the last five years.

Chris Bryant: Figures collated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Consular Directorate relate only to births registered at our Missions overseas.
	The number of births registered by consular staff overseas for the last five years are:
	
		
			   Number 
			 April 2004 to March 2005 8,620 
			 April 2005 to March 2006 8,764 
			 April 2006 to March 2007 8,778 
			 April 2007 to March 2008 8,813 
			 April 2008 to March 2009 8,189

Departmental Assets

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assets of his Department are planned to be sold in each year from 2009-10 to 2013-14; what the  (a) description and  (b) book value of each such asset is; what the expected revenue from each such sale is; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Bryant: The Treasury set the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) a property sales target of £18 million for each of the three financial years 2008-11. In 2008-09 disposal of land and buildings by the FCO generated over £61 million, exceeding the full three-year target by £7 million.
	FCO's revised 2009-10 property sales target is £8 million of which we have already sold £5.632 million. This is made up of three office buildings, one residence, eight units of staff accommodation, one amenity building and two plots of land at various overseas Posts. A further £3 million (approximately) former office building is under offer.
	For financial years 2010-11 to 2013-14 our asset managers have identified, and intend selling, 106 properties as potentially redundant. Their current book values total £71 million. The properties comprises four office buildings, six Heads of Post residences, 86 units of staff accommodation, four plots of land, three amenity complexes and three ancillary buildings.
	More sales are likely to arise as part of our active asset management. We continue to keep our entire property portfolio under review, ensuring it provides value for money, fitness for purpose, and security for our staff.
	In order to maximise the price received for the sale of our assets, it is not our policy to release details of our sales programme, nor the price we expect to receive, in advance of formal marketing. Details of sales completed are reported quarterly to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
	The book value for each property is usually based on open market value as assessed by independent chartered surveyors commissioned as part of our rolling programme of estate revaluations. In most cases, this gives the best indicator of anticipated revenue.

Embassies: Closures

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British  (a) embassies,  (b) high commissions and  (c) consulates have closed since 1997; what arrangements have been made to safeguard British interests in these circumstances; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Bryant: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 9 July 2009,  Official Report, column 948W and the answer by my right hon. Friend, the then Minister for Europe, (Mr. Hoon) on 6 February 2007,  Official Report, column 821W.
	Of the 31 diplomatic posts closed, 18 were consulates or other subordinate posts in countries where our Embassy or High Commission remains open. Elsewhere, we have made arrangements to safeguard British interests through the non-resident accreditation of a British Ambassador based in a neighbouring country, or the appointment of an Honorary Consul.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office continuously reviews the deployment of its resources and aligns them flexibly in line with UK interests to the benefit of the British taxpayer.

Equatorial Guinea: Human Rights

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further steps his Department plans to take to seek to ensure that the Government of Equatorial Guinea improves its human rights record, with particular reference to prison conditions.

Ivan Lewis: We remain concerned about the human rights situation in Equatorial Guinea, including reports by the UN Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, Manfred Nowak, of poor conditions in Equato-Guinean Prisons.
	The UK will raise its human rights concerns during Equatorial Guinea's forthcoming Universal Periodic Review in the Human Rights Council this month. The Government welcomed the visit to Equatorial Guinea by the UN Special Rapporteur and the co-operation given by the authorities for the visit. The UK engages in the interactive dialogue for every country going through the review-one of the most important innovations of the Human Rights Council, as it has the potential to result in real improvements in the human rights situation on the ground-and we will do the same for Equatorial Guinea. Our ambassador to Equatorial Guinea, located in Abuja, will also continue to raise concerns with the Equato-Guinean authorities on his visits to the country.

Iraq

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had on oil concessions in Iraq.

Ivan Lewis: The Government have regular discussions on Iraqi energy issues with the Government of Iraq and with international oil companies. These exchanges include discussion of Iraq's recent and upcoming oil licensing rounds through which the Iraqi Government are acquiring international expertise in order to increase oil production and exports.

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the number of  (a) death sentences imposed by the incumbent Iraqi regime and  (b) people sentenced to death who were associated with the previous regime.

Ivan Lewis: The administration of justice and the punishment of criminal activities in Iraq, including the imposition of the death penalty, is a matter for the elected Government of Iraq. Death sentences have been given to those found guilty of murder or terrorist crimes whether or not they are associated with Saddam Hussein's regime.
	The Iraqi Human Rights Minister told UK officials recently that about 900 prisoners had been given the death sentence but it was not clear from when these sentences were imposed. The EU has reported that 117 prisoners have been executed this year.
	The position of the UK and of our EU colleagues towards the use of the death penalty is well known to the Government of Iraq, and we continue to raise our opposition to it regularly.

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of bribery allegations relating to the private security company Blackwater in respect of the deaths of civilians in Iraq.

Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not received any allegations of bribery relating to Blackwater in respect of the deaths of civilians in Iraq.

Iraq Committee of Inquiry

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what position each official in his Department seconded to the Iraq Committee of Inquiry held between January 2001 and December 2003; and for what matters each was responsible in each such year.

Ivan Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right. hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office, the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Tessa Jowell), on 3 December 2009,  Official Report, columns 974-75W.

Jerusalem: Religious Freedom

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the safety of Christians living in the City of Jerusalem.

Ivan Lewis: We have made no recent assessment of the safety of Jerusalemites along specific religious lines. We call on all parties in Jerusalem to avoid actions that inflame tensions and to respect the religious sensitivities that exist in Jerusalem.

Middle East: Armed Conflict

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the number of  (a) rockets and  (b) mortar bombs launched into Israeli territory from (i) Lebanon and (ii) Gaza since 1 January 2009; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Estimates on the exact numbers of rockets and mortar bombs differ; we condemn the firing of any rockets and mortar bombs into Israeli territory. It is unacceptable that militants in the Gaza Strip have continued to fire rockets into southern Israel. In 2009 we have also been concerned by and condemn the sporadic incidents of rocket fire into northern Israel by militants in Lebanon.

Middle East: Religious Freedom

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions  (a) each Minister and  (b) officials in his Department have had with (i) Arab states and (ii) the government of Israel on discrimination against Jewish communities in Arab states; what the outcomes were of such discussions; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: In the past 12 months the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has been active in taking forward initiatives designed to counter discrimination against Jewish communities across the world, including in Arab states. In February the FCO co-hosted the inaugural conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism, attended by parliamentarians from around the world. Subsequently we have been committed to advancing the objectives set out in the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism which aspires to combat any manifestations of anti-Semitism and of discrimination against Jewish people.

Middle East: Trade

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the level of trade between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 2008; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: We have received no reports on the level of trade between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 2008.

Middle East: Trade

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the level of agricultural exports from the Palestinian Authority to Israel in  (a) 2007 and  (b) 2008; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has received no specific reports on the level of Palestinian agricultural exports to Israel in 2007 and 2008.

Overseas Price Mechanism

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what recent assessment has been made of the effect on his Department's budget of adverse currency movements following the withdrawal of the Overseas Price Mechanism in Autumn 2007;
	(2)  what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on foreign currency transactions in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of managing the system of forward purchases of currencies in the latest year for which figures are available; and how many staff have responsibilities connected to this function;
	(4)  how much was  (a) claimed from and  (b) returned to the Treasury under the Overseas Price Mechanism in each year since the mechanism's adoption;
	(5)  with reference to the answer of 16 March 2009,  Official Report, column 219W, on departmental public expenditure, how many UK overseas posts have required additional funding to maintain the purchasing power of their local budget since Autumn 2007; and how much additional funding was provided for that purpose;
	(6)  which UK posts overseas have reported a further decline in the purchasing power of their local budget since that answer was given; and what the value in UK sterling was of the total reported decline.

David Miliband: Over half the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) spend is in foreign currencies. Exchange rate pressures impact FCO in three main areas: overseas Posts' spending in foreign currencies; contributions to international organisations and peacekeeping; and spending in sterling on items affected by exchange rates. Until 2007, FCO and the Treasury used the Overseas Price Movements (OPM) mechanism to maintain the local purchasing power of our Posts (the first category) despite any movements in exchange rates and differential inflation rates. Recent OPM transfers between FCO and HM Treasury are:
	
		
			  Financial year  Impact on Posts (million)  Notes 
			 2004-05 -14.1 Returned to HMT 
			 2005-06 -4.9 Returned to HMT 
			 2006-07 -9.6 Returned to HMT 
			 2007-08 +1.4 HMT Funded FCO Pressure 
			 2008-09 +59.2 OPM withdrawn 
			 2009-10 +80.0  
		
	
	The withdrawal of OPM became effective from April 2008. Since then, 190 of our Posts have faced exchange rate and inflationary pressures. In 2008-09 the exchange and inflation rate pressure on our Posts' budgets was £59.2 million. In 2009-10 the exchange and inflation rate pressures on our Posts' budgets is expected to be £80 million. I have placed details in the Library of the House. Additional exchange rate pressures have impacted our international organisations subscriptions, peacekeeping assessed contributions and some other budgets spent in sterling but impacted by exchange rate movements.
	The FCO monitors the impact of foreign currency movements on budgets on a continuing basis. The FCO Board of Management has met frequently and offered me advice on how best to meet the estimated impact (including OPM) of over £100 million in 2009-10.
	FCO's discretionary budget from which Posts are funded is £830million (which includes FCO's contributions to UKTI, but excludes all our contributions to UN Peacekeeping and the costs of International Organisations subscriptions). Our Posts have responded impressively with a range of efficiency savings. Programme spend has also been reduced to meet the new budgets.
	The foreign currency forward purchase programme to help manage our foreign exchange needs is carried out through our Strategic Treasury Team of three people, drawing on wider skills as and when necessary. A number of more senior staff, including the FCO's Finance Committee, have overseen the operation. HiFX Intelligent Financial Services also provide specialist support at the cost of £41,400 per year.

Overseas Price Mechanism

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department conducted a formal assessment of the effect of the proposed withdrawal of the Overseas Price Mechanism during negotiations for the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: I refer the right hon. Member to the replies I gave on 1 April 2009,  Official Report, columns 1194-95W.

Overseas Price Mechanism

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions between 28 June 2007 and 9 October 2007 he held meetings to discuss the Overseas Price Mechanism and proposals for its withdrawal.

David Miliband: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 1 April 2009,  Official Report, column 1194W.

Palestinians: Christianity

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the rights of Christians in the Palestinian territories with regard to  (a) travel,  (b) housing,  (c) residency and  (d) equal taxation.

Ivan Lewis: The last report by our British Consulate-General in Jerusalem on Palestinian Christians was dispatched on 11 May 2009. It covered the social conditions of Palestinian Christians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), reasons for Christian emigration from the OPTs (mainly the occupation and opportunities afforded to them elsewhere), and relations with the majority Muslim Palestinian community. Other than the usual issues of travel around the West Bank and between the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which affect all Palestinians, the report did not focus on travel, housing, or residency. Nor did it touch on the issue of equal taxation. We have not made a separate assessment of these points.

Philippines: Politics and Government

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his Filipino counterpart on the situation in Mindanao following the recent outrages there; and what support the Government are providing to enable next year's election in the to take place peacefully.

Ivan Lewis: We continue to support efforts to strengthen democratic processes in the Philippines. We are working with the both the Commission for Elections and the Commission for Human Rights in the Philippines to ensure that marginalised voters such as the elderly are able to take up their democratic rights. We also provide support to local efforts to prevent election related violence. For example, we are supporting the National Ulama Conference of the Philippines, a national body of Islamic scholars who have spoken out against the incident and called on those affected not to carry out reprisals.
	More broadly the Government are actively involved in promoting peace and stability in Mindanao. We have accepted an invitation to join an International Contact Group in order to assist the peace process between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front aimed at bringing an end to the long running conflict in Mindanao between the Front, an Islamic separatist group, and the Government of the Philippines.

Scientists

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions he has met  (a) the Government Chief Scientific Adviser and  (b) his Department's Chief Scientific Adviser in the course of his official duties in the last 12 months.

Chris Bryant: Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers meet regularly with officials during the normal course of business.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to page 12 of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) Business Plan, 2009-10, by what means the CMEC plans to collect robust and assured data on private arrangements; and if she will make a statement.

Helen Goodman: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance and system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty:
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to page 12 of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) Business Plan 2009 if she will set out how CMEC plans to collect robust and assured data on private arrangements; and if she will make a statement.
	The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is in the process of commissioning work to build an annual survey which will provide an estimate of the number of separated families and the proportion with effective arrangements in place whether statutory or private . The survey findings are expected in 2010.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.

Children: Maintenance

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the number of people contacting the Child Maintenance Options service who have established private maintenance arrangements; and if she will make a statement.

Helen Goodman: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty:
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will estimate the number of people contacting the Child Maintenance Options service who have established private maintenance arrangements; and if she will make a statement.
	The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission has recently conducted an in-house survey of Child Maintenance Options customers to gain an initial indication of outcomes. The survey was carried out in September 2009 and involved people who had contacted the service between August 2008 and August 2009.
	From this survey, we estimate that approximately 38,000 effective private arrangements have been put in place following contact with the Options service and approximately 60,000 children are benefiting from these arrangements.
	It should be noted that the survey is in-house, not independently assured and does not provide robust findings but provides an early indication of outcomes. The Commission has recently commissioned an independent survey to more effectively establish the impact the service has had and it expects the findings in 2010.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.

Departmental Buildings

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many residential properties her Department owns; and how many  (a) are occupied and  (b) have been empty for more than six months.

Jim Knight: DWP does not own any residential properties.

Departmental Conditions of Employment

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of staff of her Department, its executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies work flexibly or part-time; and what her Department's policy is on making jobs available on a job-share or flexible basis.

Jim Knight: The information held at the end of September 2009 on part-time flexible working contracts for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and its agencies is in the following table.
	
		
			  Working pattern 
			   Part-time 
			  Agency  Number  Percentage 
			 Jobcentre Plus 28,049 31 
			 Pensions Disability and Carers Service 6,079 37 
			 Corporate Shared Services 3,153 24 
			 Total 37,281 31 
		
	
	The information held on part-time flexible working contracts for non-departmental public bodies is in the following table.
	
		
			  Working pattern 
			   Part-time 
			  Non-departmental public body  Number  Percentage 
			 Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) 2,813 36 
			 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) 927 24 
			 Independent Living Fund (ILF) 67 36 
			 Pension Protection Fund (PPF) 14 7.3 
			 Pensions Ombudsman (PO) and Pensions Protection Fund Ombudsman (PPFO) 4 11 
			 Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA) 1 0.7 
			 Remploy Ltd. 500 10 
			 The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) 6 15 
			 The Pensions Regulator (TPR) 40 13.5 
		
	
	DWP recognises the advantage of having a range of different flexible working arrangements to meet business needs. Current selection policy encourages applications from employees looking to job share and work flexibly.
	The Department's HR work force planning team produces a monthly pocket facts report, this includes staffing-headcount analysis. The report is available on the departmental intranet with the last publication being for September 2009, this showed 82,344 employees as full time and 37,281 part-time. This equates to 69 per cent. and 31 per cent. respectively. The difference between the 82,344 from pocket facts and the 82,335 in our data (nine) is based on the working pattern not being recorded on RM.
	Departmental guidance on working hours and working patterns was amended to include advice for employees on how employees can find potential job-share partners by linking to the civil service jobs on line internet site.
	Data on non-departmental public bodies have been provided by the departmental governance team.

Departmental Disclosure of Information

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many allegations of victimisation for whistleblowing have been made to her Department by its staff since 6 June 2006.

Jim Knight: Information on the numbers of staff in the Department for Work and Pensions who made allegations of victimisation for whistleblowing since 6 June 2006 is not available in the format requested.
	The Department for Work and Pensions records the numbers of staff raising grievances and complaints of harassment, discrimination and bullying but does not record information under the specific category requested. To extract more detailed information from individual records under the category requested would be at disproportionate cost.
	Civil Servants are required to act in accordance with the standards and core values set out in the Civil Service Code. The Civil Service Code also provides for civil servants to raise matters of concern with the independent Civil Service Commissioners if they do not receive what they consider to be a reasonable response following departmental internal procedures. The Commissioners will also consider taking a complaint direct. Further guidance on whistleblowing is set out in the Civil Service Management Code and the Directory of Civil Service Guidance.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much money her Department  (a) lost in each year since 2005 and  (b) expects to lose in each of the next three years through administrative error.

Jim Knight: The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Estimated overpayments due to official error since 2005-06 
			   Overpayments due to Official Error (administrative error) (£ billion)  Overpayments due to Official Error (administrative error) as a percentage of overall benefit expenditure 
			 2005-06 0.9 0.7 
			 2006-07 0.9 0.8 
			 2007-08 0.9 0.7 
			 2008-09 0.8 0.6 
			  Source: National Statistics publication 'Fraud and Error in the Benefit System: April 2008 to March 2009' 
		
	
	The Department does not produce projections for future losses as a result of administrative error. However, the Department has a strategic objective to reduce overpayments as a result of fraud, official error and customer error combined to 1.8 of overall benefit expenditure per cent by March 2011.

Departmental Security

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many security passes her Department has issued to contractors providing consultancy services in the last 12 months.

Jim Knight: Information regarding the number of security passes the Department has issued to contractors providing consultancy services in the last 12 months is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate costs.

Employment and Support Allowance

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many individuals aged under 25 years commenced a claim for  (a) incapacity benefit,  (b) work-related employment and support allowance and (c) support group employment and support allowance in each of the last 12 quarters.

Jonathan R Shaw: Information is not presently available separately for work-related and support group employment and support allowance.
	The available information is in the tables.
	
		
			  Incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance claimant numbers for individuals aged under 25 years for each of the last 12 quarters 
			   Number 
			 August 2006 27,960 
			 November 2006 28,480 
			 February 2007 24,700 
			 May 2007 25,880 
			 August 2007 29,350 
			 November 2007 28,430 
			 February 2008 24,430 
			 May 2008 25,180 
			 August 2008 29,500 
			 November 2008 20,630 
			 February 2009 2,870 
			 May 2009 2,250 
			  Notes: 1. The figures represent the total number of spells on this benefit that commence within the quarter. A person may flow on and off the same benefit more than once during a quarter. 2. The figures do not include numbers where people move out of one area and into another while remaining on the benefit. The figures also miss around 8 per cent. of short duration flows onto the benefit every quarter, where the claimant has flowed on and off the benefit between the six weeks scan. 3. Case load figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 4. Employment and support allowance replaced incapacity benefit and income support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27 October 2008, any incapacity benefit on flows after that date will be claimants electing to reclaim incapacity benefit within the 52 week linking rules.  Source: The Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. 
		
	
	
		
			  Employment and support allowance claimant numbers for individuals aged under 25 years for each of the last three quarters 
			   Number 
			 November 2008 10,150 
			 February 2009 24,960 
			 May 2009(1) 28,310 
			 (1) Provisional data  Notes: 1. Case load figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Employment and Support Allowance replaced incapacity benefit and income support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27 October 2008. 3. The figures relating to employment and support allowance have been thoroughly quality assured to National Statistics standard however it should be noted that this is a new benefit using a new data source which may not have reached steady state in terms of operational processing and retrospection. Hence most recent data shown are provisional.  Source: The Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.

Employment and Support Allowance

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what changes she plans to make to the work capability assessment; what steps she is taking to ensure such changes take into account the needs of those with  (a) autism and  (b) fluctuating conditions; and what estimate she has made of the change in the number of people receiving employment support allowance as a result of such changes.

Jonathan R Shaw: As announced in the White Paper 'Raising expectations and increasing support: reforming welfare for the future', published in December 2008, we are currently conducting a Department-led review of the work capability assessment in consultation with medical experts and representative groups including the National Autistic Society. How the assessment considers individuals with fluctuating conditions forms part of the review and estimation of the effects of any changes will be made once the review is complete.

Employment and Support Allowance: Medical Examinations

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken by Atos Healthcare is to deliver to a claimant's GP a report following a work capability assessment; and if she will make a statement.

Jonathan R Shaw: Atos Healthcare medical examination reports are not sent to claimant's GP's. The medical assessment reports completed by Atos Healthcare are sent directly to the business user of the medical services contract.

Employment and Support Allowance: Sight Impaired

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many new claims for employment and support allowance which were granted were made on the grounds of problems with vision, including visual acuity and visual fields, between October 2008 and February 2009; and how many people assessed for employment and support allowance on the basis of problems with vision, including visual acuity and visual fields, have been judged  (a) suitable for the Support Group,  (b) suitable for the Work Related Activity Group and  (c) as fit for work.

Jonathan R Shaw: holding answer 7 December 2009
	The information requested is not available.

Home Responsibilities Protection

Gary Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many applications for home responsibilities protection have been refused on the grounds that the applicant was unmarried and caring for children while a partner worked in the last 12 months.

Angela Eagle: None. Whether a couple are married is not one of the criteria used to determine whether home responsibilities protection can be awarded to the partner of a child benefit recipient where the recipient herself has gained a qualifying year through paid work.

Incapacity Benefit: Older Workers

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans her Department has for introducing pilots to help incapacity benefit claimants over the age of 50 years to move off benefit and into work; how many such pilot schemes are planned and in which areas in the country; for how long such pilot schemes will last; and when she expects them to commence.

Jonathan R Shaw: holding answer 7 December 2009
	On 13 October 2009, the Secretary of State announced a review of the employment support provided to disabled people and those with health conditions. As part of that review we are considering the help we should make available to incapacity benefits claimants over age 50. The underpinning principles of our future reforms of the Pathways to Work programme will be included in the shortly to be published Back to Work White Paper. We will publish full proposals in the spring.

Jobseeker's Allowance: South East Region

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average duration of a jobseeker's allowance claim was in each local authority area in the South East in each of the last  (a) 12 months and  (b) five years.

Jim Knight: The requested information has been placed in the Library.

KBR

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether her Department has entered into any contracts with Kellogg, Brown and Root or its subsidiaries since January 2009.

Jim Knight: The Department has not entered into any contracts with Kellogg Brown and Root or its subsidiaries since January 2009.

Pensioners: Income

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of the total income of pensioners came from the  (a) public purse and  (b) private pension provision in the latest period for which figures are available; and what estimate has been made of the equivalent figures for (i) 2030, (ii) 2040 and (iii) 2050.

Angela Eagle: In 2007-08, the percentage of total income of pensioners which comes from the public purse is 42 per cent. on average. The percentage of total income of pensioners which comes from a private pension, on average, is 28 per cent. The remaining 30 per cent. on average, comes from investment income, earnings and other income streams.
	No estimates have been made of these breakdowns for 2030, 2040 or 2050.

Poverty

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate she has made of the number of people with an income below the before housing costs poverty threshold who pay income tax.

Jim Knight: The information requested is not available.

Sickness Benefits: EU Law

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if she will place in the Library a copy of her substantive response to the letter sent to her by the European Commission on 1 October 2009 giving factual notice in respect of the UK Government's failure to comply with the ECJ ruling on exportable sickness benefits.

Angela Eagle: The European Commission wrote to the UK Government on 8 October giving formal notification of infraction proceedings challenging how the UK has implemented a 2007 decision of the European Court of Justice relating to Disability Living Allowance (care component), Attendance Allowance and Carer's Allowance.
	Correspondence between the European Commission and the member states (including the UK) on such cases is generally regarded by both parties as confidential between them.
	As we are currently in dialogue with the European Commission we will not be making our replies to their correspondence public.

Social Security Benefits

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the Work for Your Benefit scheme pilots.

Jim Knight: The overall budget for the Work for Your Benefit pilots is £20 million, of which £15 million has been allocated to the provider-led Work for Your Benefit contracts.
	We will also deliver an alternative regime of support for jobseekers reaching 24 months on jobseeker's allowance, which we will be comparing to the provider-led programme in the pilot areas. This will be delivered by Jobcentre Plus.

Social Security Benefits: Peterborough

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many former claimants of jobseeker's allowance in Peterborough constituency have moved on to  (a) pension credit,  (b) a training allowance,  (c) the self-employment credit and  (d) a Future Jobs Fund job in each month of the last two years.

Jim Knight: holding answer 30 November 2009
	Data on people who flow off jobseeker's allowance onto pension credit are not collated centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The information requested on people who have flowed off jobseeker's allowance onto training allowance in the Peterborough constituency in each month of the last two years is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of people in the Peterborough parliamentary constituency flowing from Jobseeker's Allowance to Government-supported training schemes-each month of the last two years. 
			   Number 
			 November 2007 40 
			 December 2007 60 
			 January 2008 30 
			 February 2008 60 
			 March 2008 55 
			 April 2008 60 
			 May 2008 65 
			 June 2008 75 
			 July 2008 70 
			 August 2008 70 
			 September 2008 60 
			 October 2008 50 
			 November 2008 70 
			 December 2008 60 
			 January 2009 45 
			 February 2009 85 
			 March 2009 40 
			 April 2009 75 
			 May 2009 100 
			 June 2009 65 
			 July 2009 90 
			 August 2009 60 
			 September 2009 15 
			 October 2009 10 
			  Notes: 1. Data are rounded to the nearest five. 2. This information is published on the Nomis website at: www.nomisweb.co.uk 3. The percentage of people leaving with an unknown destination recorded has increased over the last 10 years. This is because the completion levels of the JSA40 (forms filled in by people leaving jobseeker's allowance) have decreased over this period. This should be taken into account when interpreting these statistics, as many of these 'unknown' leavers will have moved into employment or other benefits.  Source:  Count of unemployment-related benefits, Jobcentre Plus computer systems (computer held cases only). 
		
	
	Information on the number of people who have flowed off jobseeker's allowance to receive the self-employment credit is not available at constituency level. I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the right hon. Member for Maidenhead, (Mrs. May), on 11 November 2009,  Official Report, columns 571-72W, for the data that are available at national level.
	The information requested on people who have flowed off jobseeker's allowance into a Future Jobs Fund job is not available.

Winter Fuel Payments

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many eligible  (a) men and  (b) women have not received backdated winter fuel payments in respect of previous years in (i) each local authority in the North West and (ii) England.

Angela Eagle: The information requested is not available.

CABINET OFFICE

Caparo Group

Graham Stuart: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether  (a) each Minister and  (b) officials in her Department have met Angad Paul in each of the last three years.

Tessa Jowell: My officials and I have meetings with a wide range of organisations and individuals on a range of subjects.

Departmental Information Officers

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many full-time equivalent press officers  (a) are employed by and  (b) work for (i) her Department and (ii) the Prime Minister's Office.

Dawn Butler: The Prime Minister's Office is part of the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office currently has 18 full-time equivalent staff employed as press officers.

Departmental Manpower

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many staff worked in 10 Downing Street other than in the Prime Minister's office in  (a) 2005-06,  (b) 2006-07 and  (c) 2007-08.

Angela Smith: Other than its own employees the Cabinet Office does not keep records of staff who work in Downing street such as the Metropolitan Police.

Departmental Travel

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office on what date she last travelled by  (a) bus and  (b) taxi in the course of her official duties.

Tessa Jowell: All travel I undertake is in accordance with the Ministerial Code.

Ministers

Peter Bone: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what criteria determine the order in which Cabinet Ministers are listed in the list of Cabinet Ministers on page two of the List of Ministerial Responsibilities, dated October 2009.

Tessa Jowell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 9 November 2009,  Official Report, column 83W.

WOMEN AND EQUALITY

Departmental Public Expenditure

Oliver Heald: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what the cost to the Government Equalities Office was of the provision of office facilities to  (a) special advisers and  (b) press officers in the 2008-09 financial year.

Michael Jabez Foster: The cost to accommodate GEO's private and press office staff in 2008-09 was £90,272. This figure covers the office facility costs for one special adviser, two press office posts and the wider private office. It is not possible to separate out specific costs for special advisers and press office.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Africa: Overseas Aid

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will hold discussions with his  (a) Egyptian,  (b) Sudanese and  (c) Ethiopian counterpart to seek progress on re-negotiating the terms of the Nile Basin Initiative.

Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) is not engaging directly in the negotiations for a new agreement on Nile waters. Negotiations are led by the basin countries. DFID along with all partners to the Nile Basin Initiative are following the process closely.

Developing Countries: Educational Visits

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what funding his Department has provided for children and young people from each local authority area to visit developing countries in each of the last five years.

Michael Foster: To collect the disaggregated spend on young people visiting developing countries by local authority would incur disproportionate costs.

Developing Countries: Educational Visits

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has spent in each local authority area on school-based learning about international development in each of the last five years.

Michael Foster: We are unable to provide data on how much has been spent on school-based learning about international development in each local authority area, as this information is either unavailable or would incur disproportionate costs to collect.

Developing Countries: Educational Visits

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  how many contracts to provide publicly-funded visits for children and young people to developing countries his Department has funded in the last 12 months; what the monetary value of each contract is; when each such contract expires; what assessment has been made of their effectiveness and value for money; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment his Department has made of the merits of providing public funding for children and young people from the UK to visit developing countries.

Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) has two contracts which provide publicly funded visits for children and young people to visit developing countries. These are Platform2, DFID's youth volunteering programme for less advantaged young adults, and the Global School Partnership (GSP) programme which links schools in the UK and developing countries. The monetary value and expiry date of each contract is provided in the table.
	
		
			  Name of contract  Contract expiry data  Value of contract (£) 
			 Platform2 31 December 2010 9,935,381 
			 GSP 31 March 2012 21,364,646 
		
	
	A recent independent external evaluation of Platform2 concluded that it is successfully changing attitudes towards international development, engaging young people and generating activism around development issues. Furthermore two recent independent evaluations found that GSP has had a substantial impact on schools in the UK and developing countries and that school partnerships result in positive impacts on children's knowledge and understanding of global issues.

Overseas Aid

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid his Department provided to each overseas country in each of the last three years.

Michael Foster: A summary of the level of aid provided by the Department for International Development (DFID) to each overseas country in each of the five years to 2008-09 is published in Statistics on International Development a copy of which is available in the Library or on the DFID website:
	www.dfid.gov.uk

TREASURY

Banks: Government Assistance

Peter Bone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the agreement between the Bank of England and HBOS and RBS providing collateral in excess of £100 billion for the emergency liquidity assistance given to those banks.

Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what interest rate was set for repayment of the loan made to  (a) RBS and  (b) HBOS in October 2008; what guarantees were obtained by the Bank of England as security against each such loan; and whether he discussed those matters with the Governor of the Bank of England prior to the Governor's appearance before the Treasury Committee on 24 November 2009.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: As disclosed by the Governor of the Bank of England in his letter to the Chairman of the Treasury Committee dated 23 November, collateral with a total value of over £100 billion was taken by the Bank as security to support its loans to HBOS and RBS. The assets taken as collateral comprised Government issued debt, residential mortgages, and personal and commercial loans. These assets were of types eligible to be taken in securitised form in the Bank's market wide facilities.
	From 14 October any additional lending under the facilities was conducted under an indemnity by HM Treasury, which covered the residual risk on the loan after significant collateralisation. At its peak this indemnity covered £18 billion of the support provided.
	The rate charged to the two banks was a penal rate, broadly equivalent to a cost of funds around 2 per cent. above the equivalent market funding rate.
	The Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England have a regular dialogue on a wide range of financial and economic issues as well as matters relating to emergency liquidity assistance.
	Information about the Bank's market-wide facilities is available on the Bank's website.
	http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/markets/marketnotice090925ltr.pdf
	http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/markets/marketnotice090925dwf.pdf
	http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/markets/marketnotice090925sls.pdf
	Details of arrangements between the Bank of England and the two banks are a matter for the Bank of England.

Beer: Prices

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the average retail price of a pint of beer comprised tax in each of the last three years.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: HMRC publish data on the percentage of the average price of a pint of beer that constitutes tax in the Alcohol Factsheet. This can be found in Tables 3.5 and 3.7 at:
	https://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=factalcohol
	Data for 2009 are not yet available.

Cheques

Greg Knight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with British banks on allowing their customers to retain the right to continue to use cheques indefinitely; and if he will make a statement.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Treasury Ministers and officials have discussions with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Oliver Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost to his Department was of provision of office facilities to  (a) special advisers and  (b) press officers in the 2008-09 financial year.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Information on HM Treasury's administration costs is published in its Annual Report and Accounts each year. The 2008-09 Report (HC611) was published on 20 July 2009 and is available from:
	www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/annual_report09.htm
	The Department does not hold the information requested relating to specific staff groups, and could provide it only at disproportionate cost.

Energy: Conservation

Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many  (a) individuals and  (b) private landlords have submitted claims under the Landlord's Energy Saving Allowance in each year since the inception of the scheme.

Stephen Timms: The numbers of non-corporate landlords that have used the Landlord's Energy Saving Allowance (LESA) since 6 April 2004 are shown in the following table. HM Revenue and Customs' administrative systems do not capture information for companies.
	
		
			   Individuals  Partnerships  Total 
			 2004-05 1,430 30 1,460 
			 2005-06 1,470 20 1,490 
			 2006-07 1,760 30 1,790 
			 2007-08 2,300 10 2,310

Post Offices: Bank Services

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what timetable he has set for bringing forward proposals to enable the Post Office to provide more banking services.

Patrick McFadden: I have been asked to reply.
	A 12 week national public consultation on Post Office banking was launched on 2 December.

Rent A Room Scheme

Sarah Teather: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the effect on  (a) room availability and  (b) revenue of an increase in the tax-free threshold of the rent-a-room scheme.

Stephen Timms: No such assessment has been made.
	An increase in the threshold to £9,000 has been estimated to reduce Exchequer revenue by £10 million.

Taxation: Business

Mark Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many  (a) small and medium-sized and  (b) other enterprises have made Time to Pay arrangements with HM Revenue and Customs to defer tax through the Business Payment Support Service to date; how much tax liability has been deferred as a result of such arrangements; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: HM Revenue and Customs measures the Business Payment Support Service through the number and value of agreements reached, and not by the size of business. To 29 November 2009 just under 238,000 Time to Pay arrangements have been agreed worth £4.17 billion.
	The agreements do not defer payment but agree the payment of tax by instalments over a period of time. Since the service was introduced on 24 November 2008, over 90 per cent. of the value of payments due has been paid by the agreed time.

Taxation: Business

Mark Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax HM Revenue and Customs forecasts will be written off as bad debts as a result of  (a) small and medium-sized and  (b) other enterprises which have made Time to Pay arrangements with HM Revenue and Customs to defer tax through the Business Payment Support Service not being able to meet their tax liabilities in (i) January 2010, (ii) February 2010, (iii) March 2010, (iv) April 2010, (v) May 2010, (vi) June 2010, (vii) July 2010, (viii) August 2010 and (ix) September 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) includes an overall provision for doubtful debt each year in its annual accounts but does not routinely disaggregate this figure. The most recent provisions are included in the accounts to 31 March 2009, available at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/hmrc-accs-0809.pdf
	However, over 90 per cent. of the value of tax that has become due under Time to Pay arrangements agreed through the Business Payment Support Service, launched in November 2008 is being paid in line with agreed instalments.
	Arrangements are available to businesses that are in genuine financial difficulty and unable to pay tax on time, but that are likely to be able to pay the tax due if given more time.
	HMRC looks at each Time to Pay proposal on its individual merits against general risk-based criteria, which it has since the service's introduction to reach decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Taxation: Business

Mark Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many  (a) small and medium-sized and  (b) other enterprises which have made Time to Pay arrangements with HM Revenue and Customs to defer tax through the Business Payment Support Service are scheduled to pay their tax liability in (i) January 2010, (ii) February 2010, (iii) March 2010, (iv) April 2010, (v) May 2010, (vi) June 2010, (vii) July 2010, (viii) August 2010 and (ix) September 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Working Tax Credit: Expenditure

Maria Miller: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of his Department's expenditure on the childcare element of working tax credit in  (a) 2009-10 and  (b) 2010-11.

Stephen Timms: No such forecast has been produced.

JUSTICE

Access to Justice Act 1999

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what amendments have been made to the Access to Justice Act 1999; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what  (a) statutory instruments,  (b) departmental circulars and  (c) other documents he (i) has issued since 1999 and (ii) plans to issue in the next 12 months consequent on the provisions of the Access to Justice Act 1999; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what recent representations he has received on the operation of the Access to Justice Act 1999; what assessment he has made of the effects of the provisions of that Act on people accused of a criminal offence; and if he will make a statement.

Bridget Prentice: The Access to Justice Act 1999 covers a very wide range of areas, including civil and criminal legal aid, conditional fee and litigation funding agreements, legal services regulation, judges, and the courts, and therefore this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Administration of Justice: Females

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what gender-sensitive policies and procedures his Department has introduced for women in the criminal justice system in the last five years.

Maria Eagle: The information requested is as follows:
	We have:
	 (a) agreed funding for a total 31 Women's Community Projects to provide additional services in the community to women at risk of offending and previous offenders;
	 (b) introduced gender specific standards which ensure an appropriate response to women prisoners, including on searching, implemented in all women's prisons this year;
	 (c) published in May 2008 an Offender Management Guide for working with women and National Service Framework to improve services to women offenders.
	In addition a Consultation Paper by the Sentencing Advisory Panel addressing important principles of sentencing of women offenders was issued in December 2008.

C-NOMIS Database Project Board

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the accuracy of the information provided to Ministers in his Department by the C-NOMIS database project board in respect of the  (a) cost and  (b) timeliness of the project as it progressed.

Maria Eagle: There have been no recent assessments. The National Audit Office conducted a review of the NOMIS programme which reported in March 2009 informing the Public Accounts Committee's November 2009 report. We are responding to the PAC report and anticipate publication of the response in January 2010.

Constitutions

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many  (a) Ministers,  (b) officials,  (c) representatives of local authorities and  (d) (i) invited and (ii) non-invited members of the public attended the deliberative event of 28 November on rights and responsibilities and a written constitution.

Michael Wills: The deliberative event on 28 November 2009, which is one of a series designed to support qualitative research, was attended by the following persons:
	 (a) One Minister-The right hon. Michael Wills MP, Minister of State, Ministry of Justice.
	 (b) Five officials from the Ministry of Justice.
	 (c) No representatives from local authorities.
	 (d) (i) 110 invited members of the general public.
	 (d) (ii) The deliberative events were open only to those who were invited to constitute a broadly representative sample of the population as a whole. It follows that no non-invited members of the general public attended the event on 28 November.

Crimes of Violence: Merseyside

Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of conviction rates for those accused of crimes of violence with homophobic motives in Merseyside.

Alan Campbell: I have been asked to reply.
	There has not been a recent assessment of conviction rates for those accused of crimes of violence with homophobic motives in Merseyside.
	In September 2009 we launched the Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan which contains a number of action points designed to reduce numbers of crimes of violence across all five hate crime strands, including sexual orientation. In particular, it commits the Home Office to produce guidance for Crime and Disorder Partnerships on preventing and responding to hate incidents and hate crimes.
	There is also a range of activity taking place in the North West to combat hate crime targeted at lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals. For example, bar owners and door staff in and around the areas of Liverpool frequented by LGB communities have recently received hate crime awareness-raising training.
	Further, Liverpool's Hate Crime Reduction Forum which brings stakeholders together from across Liverpool to address all strands of hate crime, funded the As One programme which was an educational awareness programme focused on youth centres in the Kensington area encompassing antisocial behaviour and diversity awareness.

Debts: Advisory Services

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to respond to his Department's consultation on debt management schemes.

Bridget Prentice: The consultation paper Debt Management schemes-delivering effective and balanced solutions for debtors and creditors was published on 18 September. The consultation does not close until 18 December.
	Responses received will be subjected to both a numerical and a qualitative analysis and Ministers will consider the evidence early 2010. A Response Paper setting out the Government's position in the light of this evidence will be published after that.

Departmental Legislation

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what criminal offences have been  (a) abolished and  (b) created by primary legislation sponsored by his Department since 1 May 2008.

Claire Ward: The criminal offences abolished and created by primary legislation sponsored by my Department are provided in the following list. The information has been obtained by a manual trawl of the legislation.
	Only newly created offences have been included, not any existing offences which have been amended by the legislation.
	 Offences Created by Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
	s41 Unauthorised disclosure of information relating to fine enforcement.
	s57 Unauthorised disclosure of information relating to the assessment of financial eligibility.
	s63 Possessing an extreme pornographic image.
	s72 United Kingdom national doing an act in a country outside the United Kingdom, which if done in England and Wales or Northern Ireland would constitute a sexual offence.
	s74 and schedule 16 Inciting hatred on the ground of sexual orientation.
	 Offences repealed or abolished by Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
	s79 Common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel.
	 Offences created by Coroners and Justice Act 2009
	s30 Failure to notify coroner of acquisition of certain objects.
	s62 Possession of a prohibited image of a child.
	s71 Holding a person in slavery or servitude or requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour.
	s76 Disclosing information in contravention of an investigation anonymity order.
	Sch 6 Pt 1. para 1 Serving on a jury at an inquest if disqualified from jury service.(1)
	Sch 6 Pt 1. para 2 Refusing without reasonable excuse to answer any question put by a senior coroner, (b) giving an answer to such a question knowing the answer to be false in a material particular, or (c) recklessly giving an answer to such a question that is false in a material particular.(1)
	Sch 6 Pt1. para 3 A person who is duly summoned as a juror at an inquest (a) making any false representation, or (b) causing or permitting to be made any false representation on his or her behalf, with the intention of evading service as a juror at an inquest.(1)
	Sch 6 Pt1. para 4 Making or causing to be made, on behalf of a person who has been duly summoned as a juror at an inquest, any false representation with the intention of enabling the other person to evade service as a juror at an inquest.(1)
	Sch 6 Pt 2. para 7(1) (a) Doing anything that is intended to have the effect of (a) distorting or otherwise altering any evidence, document or other thing that is given, produced or provided for the purposes of an investigation under this part of this Act, or (c) doing anything that the person knows or believes is likely to have that effect.(1)
	Sch 6. para 7(1) (b) preventing any evidence, document or other thing from being given, produced or provided for the purposes of such an investigation.
	Sch. 6. para 7(2)(a) Intentionally suppressing or concealing a document.
	Sch 6 para 7(2) (b) Intentionally alter or destroy such a document.
	Sch 6 para 8(1) In giving unsworn evidence at an inquest, giving false evidence in such circumstances that, had the evidence been given on oath, he or she would have been guilty of perjury.
	(1) Denotes offences replacing repealed offences.
	 Offences abolished or repealed by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009
	s9(3) Coroners Act 1988 A person serving on a jury knowing that he is disqualified from such service.
	s9(5)a Coroners Act 1988 Refusing without reasonable excuse to answer a question put by a senior coroner. b) Giving an answer which he knows to be false in a material particular; or c) Recklessly giving an answer which is false in a material particular.
	s9(6)a Coroners act 1988 A person duly summoned as a juror making any false representation to the coroner or the appropriate officer with the intention of evading service as such juror.
	s9(6)a Coroners Act 1988 A person summoned as a juror at an inquest causing or permitting to be made any representation on his or her behalf with the intention of evading service as a juror.
	s9(6)b Coroners Act 1988 Making or causing to be made on behalf of another person who has been so summoned any false representation to the coroner or the appropriate officer with the intention of enabling that other person to evade such service.
	s74 Common law offences of sedition, seditious libel, defamatory and obscene libel.
	 Offences created by Parliamentary Standards Act 2009
	s10 A member of the House of Commons making a claim under the MPs' allowances scheme, and (b) providing information for the purposes of the claim that the member knows to be false or misleading in a material respect.
	 Offences repealed by the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009
	None
	 Offences Created by the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009
	s2(2) and Sch. 1 Failing without reasonable excuse, to comply with any requirement imposed under or by virtue of this schedule.
	s2(2) and Sch. 1 Intentionally obstructing a person authorised by or by virtue of this schedule in the carrying out of that person's functions.
	s2(2) and Sch 1 Knowingly or recklessly providing false information in purported compliance with a requirement imposed under or by virtue of this schedule.
	s9(2) (5) Knowingly or recklessly making a false declaration about source of donation.
	s10(4) (3)and schedule 4 Knowingly or recklessly making a false declaration about whether residence etc condition satisfied.
	s11(1) (5) Knowingly or recklessly making a false declaration about whether residence etc. condition is satisfied.
	s11(4) (5) Knowingly or recklessly makes a false declaration about whether residence etc condition is satisfied.
	s17(4) Knowingly giving false information about the amount of any controlled donation, or the person making the donation.
	s19 and schedule 5 An unincorporated association failing to give a notification or report to the Commission.
	s19 and schedule 5 An unincorporated association giving a notification to the Commission or making a report to the Commission which fails to comply with the relevant requirement.
	s31(4) Disclosing information for unauthorised purpose.
	s35(8) Disclosing information for unauthorised purpose.
	Sch 2 para 14 Failing to comply with stop notice.
	 Offences Repealed by the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009
	None.

Departmental Security

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many security passes his Department has issued to contractors providing consultancy services in the last 12 months.

Jack Straw: We do not hold central records of the number of security passes which are issued locally across the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) estate. While some parts of MoJ produce separate passes for contractors we do not identify which of those are issued for consultancy purposes. Identifying the numbers would involve disproportionate cost.

Departmental Taxis

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many miles  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials in his Department and its predecessor travelled by taxi in the course of their official duties in each year since 1997; and at what cost to the public purse in each such year.

Jack Straw: The requested information is not held in the administrative or finance systems of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) or its predecessor bodies. To answer this question, the MoJ would need to collect the information manually and the costs of collection would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold. So far as I can recall I have used a taxi on three occasions since 1997 on official duties.
	The Civil Service Management Code sets outs regulations and instructions to departments and agencies regarding the terms and conditions of service of civil servants and the delegations which have been made by the Minister for the civil service under the Civil Service (Management of Functions) Act 1992 together with the conditions attached to those delegations.
	The Code can be accessed at the following website:
	http://beta.civilservice.gov.uk/about/work/codes/csmc/index.aspx
	Paragraph 8.2 deals with travel and under this section departments and agencies must ensure that staff use the most efficient and economic means of travel in the circumstances, taking into account any management benefit or the needs of staff with disabilities.

Driving Offences

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of drivers who were convicted of causing death by dangerous driving in each of the last 10 years had previously been banned from driving.

Claire Ward: The data held centrally by the Ministry of Justice on the court proceedings database for England and Wales do not contain information about the circumstances behind each case, including whether an offender found guilty at court had previously been banned from driving.

Driving Offences

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of people who were convicted of dangerous driving in each of the last 10 years were not insured to drive the vehicle in which the offence was committed.

Claire Ward: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only by analysing approximately 50,000 cases which would require manual collation at a disproportionate cost.

Driving Offences

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions for  (a) offences of drink driving and  (b) each other motoring offence resulted in a custodial sentence in (i) Mid Bedfordshire constituency, (ii) the East of England and (iii) England in each of the last 10 years.

Maria Eagle: The number of defendants found guilty at all courts in the Bedfordshire police force area, the East of England Government office region and England for driving after consuming alcohol or taking drugs and other motoring offences (by offence type) is given in tables 1, 2 and 3 from 1998 to 2007 (latest available). Sentences of immediate custody imposed at all courts are given in tables 4, 5 and 6.
	Court proceedings data are not available at parliamentary constituency level.
	Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
	
		
			  Table 1: D efendants found guilty at all courts in the Bedfordshire police force area, for motoring offences,( 1)  by offence type, from 1998 to 2007( 2, 3) 
			  Number 
			  Offence group  Offence type  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 2 Dangerous driving: 29 27 28 36 38 54 36 43 44 40 
			 3 Driving etc., after consuming alcohol or taking drugs 964 777 713 845 880 977 986 969 1,060 963 
			 4 Careless driving 249 154 183 206 187 160 134 168 235 354 
			 5 Accident offences 59 68 72 66 64 64 59 47 71 73 
			 7 Driving licence related offences 492 439 387 471 489 618 690 611 558 504 
			 9 Vehicle insurance offences 2,310 1,625 1,473 1,958 2,172 2,361 2,291 2,429 2,217 1,984 
			 10 Vehicle registration and excise licence offences 77 26 25 25 37 42 17 101 140 40 
			 11 Work record and employment offences 51 3 18 21 23 32 11 14 8 1 
			 12 Operator's licence offences 3 1 4 2 - 5 3 2 1 2 
			 13 Vehicle test offences 349 211 171 192 88 84 77 71 69 49 
			 14 Fraud, forgery etc. associated with vehicle or driver records 40 41 18 17 27 27 15 24 19 8 
			 15 Vehicle or part in dangerous or defective condition 95 51 301 56 42 29 36 20 31 38 
			 16 Speed limit offences 3,369 2,278 1,978 2,260 1,468 3,481 3,379 4,503 4,234 4,175 
			 17 Motorway offences (other than speeding) 9 5 7 16 7 14 14 18 13 15 
			 18 Neglect of traffic directions 206 70 63 78 61 67 218 678 420 426 
			 19 Neglect of pedestrian rights 41 21 11 11 20 11 17 22 17 19 
			 20 Obstruction, waiting and parking offences 122 44 19 14 13 72 5 7 10 7 
			 21 Lighting offences 47 23 18 18 24 23 11 12 28 19 
			 22 Noise offences 4 6 7 - 2 1 1 1 - 2 
			 23 Load offences 72 49 87 44 38 69 36 21 18 26 
			 24 Offences peculiar to motor cycles 1 2 1 2 - 4 4 4 3 1 
			 25 Miscellaneous motoring offences 95 201 127 163 73 70 124 252 194 596 
			  Total 8,684 6,122 5,711 6,501 5,753 8,265 8,164 10,017 9,390 9,342 
			 (1) Offence groups are shown only where data have been reported within the period given.  (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.  (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.   Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2:  D efendants found guilty at all courts in the East of Engl and Government office r egion,( 1)  for motoring offences,( 2)  by offence type, from 1998 to 2007( 3, 4) 
			  Number 
			  Offence group  Offence type  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 2 Dangerous driving 358 335 284 291 379 436 398 375 368 378 
			 3 Driving etc., after consuming alcohol or taking drugs 7,646 7,343 6,729 7,201 7,800 8,178 8,605 8,234 8,679 8,251 
			 4 Careless driving 4,817 4,215 4,143 3,954 3,264 2,862 2,515 3,027 2,937 4,123 
			 5 Accident offences 727 663 706 706 744 800 789 674 746 783 
			 7 Driving licence related offences 2,963 3,107 3,147 3,256 3,556 4,230 4,404 4,150 4,013 3,863 
			 9 Vehicle insurance offences 13,324 12,497 12,335 12,540 13,775 15,994 16,228 16,489 17,268 15,107 
			 10 Vehicle registration and excise licence offences 646 306 686 1,166 1,443 1,919 1,547 2,370 2,031 1,904 
			 11 Work record and employment offences 439 415 311 276 331 269 206 208 205 136 
			 12 Operator's licence offences 212 179 181 120 92 81 9 91 101 42 
			 13 Vehicle test offences 3,150 2,568 2,279 1,934 1,751 1,602 1,404 1,173 1,147 861 
			 14 Fraud, forgery etc. associated with vehicle or driver records 643 558 518 532 472 473 284 186 180 133 
			 15 Vehicle or part in dangerous or defective condition 1,597 1,206 1,201 838 741 639 736 657 765 746 
			 16 Speed limit offences 17,818 17,107 14,577 16,712 21,177 18,843 19,414 25,185 24,186 23,634 
			 17 Motorway offences (other than speeding) 134 65 87 109 113 159 150 215 153 161 
			 18 Neglect of traffic directions 3,341 2,510 2,769 2,605 1,987 2,134 2,002 2,376 2,490 2,353 
			 19 Neglect of pedestrian rights 383 315 286 207 189 152 148 135 119 161 
			 20 Obstruction, waiting and parking offences 1,394 1,367 1,185 921 1,024 859 625 562 500 517 
			 21 Lighting offences 423 321 277 191 204 180 217 172 209 186 
			 22 Noise offences 192 147 106 77 78 66 54 42 48 37 
			 23 Load offences 1,337 1,137 833 650 640 924 817 813 833 550 
			 24 Offences peculiar to motor cycles 34 29 41 40 29 21 33 34 23 15 
			 25 Miscellaneous motoring offences 2,242 3,307 2,075 2,548 3,125 4,455 5,504 5,800 4,063 5,565 
			  Total 63,820 59,697 54,756 56,874 62,914 65,276 66,179 72,968 71,064 69,506 
			 (1) Includes Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk police force areas.  (2) Offence groups are shown only where data have been reported within the period given.  (3) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.  (4) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.   Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Defendants found guilty at all courts in England, for motoring offences,( 1)  by offence type, from 1998 to 2007( 2, 3) 
			  Number 
			  Offence group  Offence type  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 2 Dangerous driving 4,024 3,633 3,716 3,807 4,512 5,035 4,951 4,330 3,987 3,817 
			 3 Driving etc., after consuming alcohol or taking drugs 77,578 74,413 71,471 70,854 76,191 78,291 80,986 79,005 78,410 76,145 
			 4 Careless driving 39,524 33,414 29,016 25,646 22,582 20,279 19,711 19,325 18,204 27,106 
			 5 Accident offences 5,639 5,406 5,107 5,384 5,243 5,613 5,749 5,469 5,419 5,535 
			 7 Driving licence related offences 37,043 37,389 37,656 38,518 41,512 49,042 52,550 48,895 43,901 41,710 
			 9 Vehicle insurance offences 157,532 155,039 159,841 157,522 170,470 194,103 204,708 188,749 181,047 162,854 
			 10 Vehicle registration and excise licence offences 10,856 8,930 10,567 12,180 17,822 21,896 21,380 12,211 10,136 10,213 
			 11 Work record and employment offences 6,017 5,006 4,493 3,940 3,107 2,890 2,336 2,030 1,830 1,338 
			 12 Operator's licence offences 1,784 1,476 1,580 1,263 981 777 704 703 640 461 
			 13 Vehicle test offences 22,485 19,754 16,302 13,842 12,798 13,583 13,066 11,242 9,108 7,166 
			 14 Fraud, forgery etc. associated with vehicle or driver records 4,251 3,845 3,235 3,270 3,077 3,021 2,445 1,816 1,404 1,029 
			 15 Vehicle or part in dangerous or defective condition 17,446 14,476 11,661 9,141 7,670 6,961 7,387 6,674 6,207 6,189 
			 16 Speed limit offences 138,463 133,535 124,105 121,515 110,485 122,839 134,134 141,995 137,022 134,144 
			 17 Motorway offences (other than speeding) 1,866 1,373 2,088 1,481 1,792 1,181 1,423 1,751 1,186 1,070 
			 18 Neglect of traffic directions 26,337 24,999 25,486 23,582 21,516 20,823 22,372 19,556 21,076 21,077 
			 19 Neglect of pedestrian rights 4,814 4,009 3,104 2,471 2,079 2,169 2,139 1,909 1,514 1,552 
			 20 Obstruction, waiting and parking offences 15,418 14,777 12,702 12,070 11,606 12,037 9,747 7,190 5,742 3,659 
			 21 Lighting offences 4,230 3,890 2,912 2,306 2,167 2,055 2,177 2,123 1,892 1,601 
			 22 Noise offences 1,118 1,050 786 655 459 415 376 349 277 219 
			 23 Load offences 12,913 9,904 9,285 7,791 6,592 6,737 5,844 4,576 4,406 4,093 
			 24 Offences peculiar to motor cycles 233 201 259 249 213 226 295 209 197 152 
			 25 Miscellaneous motoring offences 40,394 41,838 40,449 38,236 42,851 55,151 71,505 67,896 49,384 67,024 
			  Total 629,965 598,357 575,821 555,723 565,725 625,124 665,985 628,003 582,989 578,154 
			 (1) Offence groups are shown only where data have been reported within the period given.  (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.  (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are use.   Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 4: Offenders sentenced to immediate custody at all courts in the Bedfordshire police force area, for motoring offences,( 1)  by offence type, from 1998 to 2007( 2, 3) 
			  Number 
			  Offence group  Offence type  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  20072 
			 2 Dangerous driving 16 13 19 21 29 31 18 27 16 17 
			 3 Driving etc., after consuming alcohol or taking drugs 63 52 58 50 47 41 45 55 26 21 
			 5 Accident offences - 2 2 - - - - - - - 
			 7 Driving licence related offences 190 191 167 175 161 167 163 140 100 78 
			 9 Vehicle insurance offences - - - - - - 1 - - - 
			 14 Fraud, forgery etc. associated with vehicle or driver records - -  - - - - - 1 - 
			 23 Load offences - - - - - - - - 1 - 
			  Total 269 258 246 246 237 239 227 223 144 117 
			 (1 )Offence groups are shown only where data have been reported within the period given.  (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.  (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.   Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 5: The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody at all courts in the East of England Government Office Region,( 1)  for motoring offences,( 2)  by offence type, from 1998 to 2007( 3, 4) 
			  Number 
			  Offence group  Offence type  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 2 Dangerous driving 117 115 148 141 177 199 182 160 133 145 
			 3 Driving etc., after consuming alcohol or taking drugs 339 348 322 327 332 323 393 344 240 238 
			 5 Accident offences 3 8 11 8 14 12 14 10 9 15 
			 7 Driving licence related offences 872 1,015 1,024 1,187 1,190 1,281 1,054 933 712 564 
			 9 Vehicle insurance offences 4 - 2 1 2 5 6 2 2 - 
			 10 Vehicle registration and excise licence offences - - 1 - - - - - - - 
			 14 Fraud, forgery etc. associated with vehicle or driver records 1 4 1 3 -- 4 3 2 - 1 
			 16 Speed limit offences - - - - - - 1 - 1 - 
			 18 Neglect of traffic directions - - 1 - - - - - - - 
			 23 Load offences - - - - - - - - 1 - 
			 25 Miscellaneous motoring offences - 1 3 - 1 - - 1 - - 
			  Total 1,336 1,491 1,513 1,667 1,716 1,824 1,653 1,452 1,098 963 
			 (1) Includes Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk police force areas.  (2) Offence groups are shown only where data have been reported within the period given.  (3 )The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.  (4) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.   Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 6: Number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody at all courts in England, for motoring offences,( 1)  by offence type, from 1998 to 2007( 2, 3) 
			  Number 
			  Offence group  Offence type  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 2 Dangerous driving 1,412 1,475 1,591 1,753 2,022 2,186 2,116 1,827 1,584 1,454 
			 3 Driving etc., after consuming alcohol or taking drugs 3,536 3,433 3,239 3,249 3,099 2,880 2,811 2,580 2,104 1,879 
			 4 Careless driving 1 2 1 1 - - 2 1 1 - 
			 5 Accident offences 52 69 67 70 76 64 70 77 59 49 
			 7 Driving licence related offences 9,966 11,230 11,665 12,402 12,562 13,300 11,177 9,175 7,008 5,420 
			 9 Vehicle insurance offences 8 5 15 4 7 10 18 5 7 3 
			 10 Vehicle registration and excise licence offences 1 - 2 - 1 2 - - - - 
			 13 Vehicle test offences 1 - 2 - - - - - - 1 
			 14 Fraud, forgery etc. associated with vehicle or driver records 14 22 9 9 20 15 13 12 7 6 
			 15 Vehicle or part in dangerous or defective condition - - 1 - - - - - - 1 
			 16 Speed limit offences 1 2 1 1 - - 1 - 2 - 
			 18 Neglect of traffic directions - 1 1 - - - - - 2 2 
			 19 Neglect of pedestrian rights - - - - - - 2 1 - - 
			 20 Obstruction, waiting and parking offences - - - - - - - - 2 - 
			 23 Load offences - - - - - - - - 1 - 
			 25 Miscellaneous motoring offences 2 4 8 5 5 3 3 3 1 3 
			  Total 14,994 16,243 16,602 17,494 17,792 18,460 16,213 13,681 10,778 8,818 
			 (1) Offence groups are shown only where data have been reported within the period given.  (2)( )The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.  (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.   Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice.

Drugs: Newcastle

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many  (a) trials and  (b) convictions there have been for drug offences in Newcastle between 2000 and 2009.

Claire Ward: Information showing the number of defendants proceeded against and found guilty at Newcastle Upon Tyne Petty Sessional Area (PSA), including those found guilty at the Crown court where Newcastle Upon Tyne PSA was the committing court for drug offences, 2000 to 2007 (latest available) is shown in the following table.
	Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
	
		
			  Number of defendants proceeded against and found guilty at Newcastle Upon Tyne petty sessional area (PSA), including those found guilty at the Crown Court where Newcastle Upon Tyne PSA was the committing court for indictable drug offences( 1) , 2000 to 2007( 2,3) 
			   2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 Proceeded against 678 832 747 787 541 573 536 505 
			 Found guilty 588 722 675 708 500 509 530 455 
			 (1) Includes indictable only and triable either way offences. (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.

Electoral Register

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much income local authorities have received from the sale of electoral register details to  (a) businesses and  (b) charities in each of the last seven years.

Jack Straw: The Government do not collect information from local authorities on the revenue received from the sale of the electoral register.
	The fees charged for the sale of the registers are set with a view to the recovery of reasonable administration costs. In August 2008, the Local Government Association and the Association of Electoral Administrators surveyed local authorities on the overall income generated by the sale of the edited version of the electoral register. 204 local authorities responded to the survey, which found that the overall revenue received was an average of £1,900 per annum.
	The Government are currently consulting on the future of the edited register. The consultation opened on 24 November 2009 and closes on 23 February 2010.

Henry VIII Clauses

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what Henry VIII powers were enacted in legislation passed in the 2008-09 Parliamentary Session.

Jack Straw: The Government do not routinely collect or hold information about the number of Henry VIII provisions. However in response to an earlier question from the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) on the number of Henry VIII powers that had been enacted up until that point in the 2008-09 Session, a detailed exercise was undertaken to collate the information.
	The Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Mr. Wills) wrote to the hon. Member for Eddisbury on 10 November 2009 with the following information:
	As you know, a Henry VIII clause is a power in a Bill which enables primary legislation to be amended or repealed by secondary legislation. Such provisions are included in legislation for a variety of reasons.
	Due to the diverse nature of this type of power, we cannot be sure that we have captured every instance. However we estimate that there are around 70 such powers contained within legislation enacted so far this Session. At least 10 of these powers are not new, but have been re-enacted this Session and at least 15 of the powers are provisions allowing for consequential amendments. The majority of the remaining powers are narrow in scope, applying in specific circumstances, including 18 powers in the Finance Act 2009.
	15 of the 70 powers are contained in the Banking Act 2009, which was passed in response to the recent period of sustained disruption in global financial markets. The more substantive of these 15 powers are necessary to ensure that the special resolution regime can be used effectively to resolve a failing bank or building society, in order to protect depositors and maintain financial stability.
	Parliament has long-and rightly-been hostile to the principle of Henry VIII powers, and so have I and my colleagues. They are only used when there is substantial call for them; no practical alternative of dealing with the issue in the original legislation; and such powers are rarely wide-ranging. The exercise of any Henry VIII power will be subject to subsequent parliamentary approval, either by way of the negative resolution procedure (for example where the change is technical, consequential or minor) or, as in most cases, the affirmative resolution procedure.
	All of the powers themselves were subject to parliamentary scrutiny prior to their enactment and were accepted as necessary by Parliament having considered the views of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee.
	In order to answer this question fully, a similar exercise is being undertaken to take account of the Acts that have received Royal Assent since 10 November and I will write to the hon. and learned Member as soon as this exercise is complete. A copy will be placed in the House Library.

Legal Aid: Asylum

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many asylum seekers were in receipt of legal aid on 1 November 2009.

Bridget Prentice: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) only records the number of claims from providers of asylum work rather than the number of publicly funded asylum seekers at any given point. In the period from April 2008 to March 2009, the LSC funded 46,628 asylum matter starts.

Legal Aid: Asylum

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department budgeted for legal aid to asylum seekers in 2009-10.

Bridget Prentice: There is not a separate budget for legal aid in respect of asylum seekers. Asylum seekers may seek legal aid in categories of law other than asylum and like all those seeking legal aid, must satisfy the means and merits tests where it is required in respect of civil categories of law and the means test and interests of justice test where it is required for criminal law.

Monarchy

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions on the order of succession he has had with his Commonwealth counterparts.

Jack Straw: I have had some informal and inconclusive discussions with some of my Commonwealth counterparts on this over the years. We have no record of any formal discussion on this.

NHS: Reciprocal Arrangements

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Health on the implications for the Isle of Man of the decision to cancel the reciprocal agreement between the NHS and the Isle of Man with effect from 1 April 2010; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  whether he had discussions with the Secretary of State for Health on the implications for  (a) Jersey and  (b) Guernsey of the cancellation of the reciprocal agreement between each island and the NHS from 1 April 2009 prior to the decision to cancel the agreement; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Wills: There were no discussions between Ministry of Justice and Department of Health Ministers. The decision to cancel the agreement was a matter for Department of Health Ministers alone, but prior to the decision being taken discussions took place between officials of both Departments.

Personal Injury: Compensation

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent research he has commissioned to assess changes in the distribution of payments in respect of personal injury litigation between  (a) insurers,  (b) solicitors,  (c) claimants and  (d) defendants since the 1996 Woolf Report on Access to Justice; and if he will make a statement.

Bridget Prentice: Research has not been commissioned recently which assesses changes in the distribution of payments in respect of personal injury litigation.

Personal Injury: Compensation

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent research he has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on the consequences of the introduction of a fixed costs regime in personal injury litigation with regard to road traffic accidents; and if he will make a statement.

Bridget Prentice: No new research has been commissioned. However, data on current costs were made available to the representative organisations involved in the mediation process which resulted in the agreed fixed costs.

Personal Injury: Compensation

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent research he has commissioned on models of funding for personal injury litigation.

Bridget Prentice: I have not recently commissioned research specifically on models of funding for personal injury litigation. However, in June 2008 my Department commissioned a scoping project on 'no win no fee' agreements covering a number of areas including personal injury. We expect to publish the report of the scoping project shortly.

Prison Accommodation

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what percentage of prisoners were held in accommodation classified as overcrowded in each year since 1997.

Maria Eagle: A prison's certified normal accommodation (CNA) is its agreed capacity when there is no crowding. A prison's operational capacity is the maximum number of prisoners it is allowed to hold over and above CNA taking into account control, security and the proper operation of regimes. Operational capacity in prisons is set by the Director of Offender Management on behalf of the Secretary of State.
	Operational managers must ensure that each cell used for the confinement of prisoners has sufficient heating, lighting and ventilation and is of adequate size for the number of prisoners to be held in it.
	The figures requested are available from 1998-99 onwards and are set out in the following table.
	
		
			   Average number of prisoners in overcrowded accommodation  Average percentage of prison population in overcrowded accommodation 
			 1998-99 13079 20.0 
			 1999-2000 13083 20.1 
			 2000-01 11780 18.2 
			 2001-02 13018 19.2 
			 2002-03 16684 23.3 
			 2003-04 18300 24.8 
			 2004-05 18214 24.3 
			 2005-06 18356 24.0 
			 2006-07 19438 24.6 
			 2007-08 20377 25.3 
			 2008-09 20452 24.7

Prisons: Drugs

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what progress has been made in the review of Prison Rule 39 on privileged prisoner correspondence recommended by the Blakey Review on disrupting the supply of illicit drugs into prisons; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: While not making this a formal recommendation in his report David Blakey highlighted the potential for abuse of Rule 39 mail for smuggling drugs. The Government undertook that the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) would review Rule 39 mail to maintain legal privilege while reducing misuse.
	The National Offender Management Service takes very seriously the principle of confidential communications between prisoners and their legal representatives which is embodied in Prison Rule 39. Any interference in these communications needs to be against a background of reasonable cause to believe that the communication is being made with the intention of furthering a criminal purpose.
	Legally privileged mail can already be opened and read in the presence of the prisoner, where there is specific intelligence to justify it.
	Since the report NOMS is consulting with the operational field and its law enforcement partners to establish the threat posed by current Rule 39 procedures and will shortly engage the Law Society to investigate whether and if so how these can be improved.

Prisons: Females

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many agency staff are working in female prisons.

Maria Eagle: All figures as follows are provided in full-time equivalent (FTE). As at 31 October 2009, there were a total of 33 agency staff and contractors working in public sector female prisons (13 operational support grades, 11 administration grades, eight nursing grades, and one psychology grade). There were a total of 2,970 staff working in female public sector prisons.
	There were a total of three agency staff (all healthcare grades) working in contracted out private female prisons. There were a total of 894 staff working in female contracted out private prisons. Kalyx (the private prison contractor) are currently running a recruitment campaign for nurses.
	Agency staff and contractor figures provided for the public sector prisons are collected from manual staffing returns supplied by stakeholders in individual establishments and are therefore liable to inaccuracies associated with records of this type. Information for the contracted out private prisons was provided by Kalyx. Information on the number of agency staff and contractors is not held separately within NOMS/HMPS. The figure shown for public sector female prisons therefore relates to the cumulative total of agency staff and contractors.

Prisons: North Wales

David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what projects under what budget headings were funded by the £324,000 plus value added tax spent on due diligence work in connection with the proposed prison site at Caernarfon.

Maria Eagle: Due diligence expenditure on the Dynamex, Caernarfon site fell under three main headings: legal, environmental assessment/valuation, and independent valuation.
	The actual expenditure to date on due diligence work is £228,261 plus VAT. The quoted figure of £324,000 plus VAT was the amount originally budgeted for the work.

Prisons: North Wales

David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  when he expects to announce his decision on the site of a new prison in North Wales;
	(2)  how many sites for a new prison in North Wales his Department is considering.

Maria Eagle: A fresh site search was announced on 27 October 2009 for further sites for new prisons. This will focus in or near areas where the demand for prison places is greatest, including North Wales. Potential sites are in the process of being identified and a shortlist will be drawn up and published in spring 2010.

Scientists

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions he has met the Government Chief Scientific Adviser in the course of his official duties in the last 12 months.

Jack Straw: None.

Sentencing: Offensive Weapons

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 11 November 2009,  Official Report, columns 482-3W, on offensive weapons, how many of the six offences receiving the maximum sentence relate specifically to possession of an article with a blade or point.

Claire Ward: Since 12 February 2007 the maximum custodial sentence for knife or offensive weapon possession offences is 4 years. Therefore the answer gives data from March 2007 to June 2009 (the most recent published data from the Knife Crime Sentencing Quarterly brief). Further information is available at:
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/knife-crime-sentencing.htm
	With reference to the answer of 11 November 2009,  Official Report, columns 482-83W, on offensive weapons, which stated six offences received the maximum sentence of four years custody for possession of a knife or offensive weapon, two of these offences (committed by two offenders) were for possession of an article with a blade or a point.
	Maximum penalties are set at a level to provide for the most serious conceivable case of a particular offence and therefore are rarely imposed.
	More custodial sentences are being given for knife and offensive weapon possession and those that are sent to jail are serving longer sentences. The proportion of immediate custodial sentences given for possessing a knife or offensive weapon increased from 17 per cent. to 19 per cent. of all sentences between the second quarter of 2008 compared with the same period in 2009. The average sentence length in the second quarter 2009 was 194 days which is a 42 per cent. increase from the same quarter in 2008.
	These figures have been drawn from the police's administrative IT system which, as with any large scale recording system, is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the police.

Sexual Offences: Rehabilitation

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the timeliness of the delivery of  (a) internet sex offender programmes and  (b) community sex offender programmes against scheduled delivery timetables in each probation area in each of the last three years.

Jack Straw: Delivery for the completion of sex offender treatment programmes (SOTP) is scheduled against annual targets. Targets for the number of completions of SOTP have been negotiated and agreed locally between Probation Areas or Trusts and the NOMS regional (and Wales) offices since 2007-08. In 2006-07 there were no area-level targets for SOTP completions, only a national target. Monthly milestones for delivery throughout the year are also agreed locally. These targets cover the overall provision of SOTP and are not broken down by the programme type.
	The targets are included in the Service Level Agreements (or contracts for Probation Trusts) setting out the agreed level of service delivery for each financial year and are signed off by the Regional Offender Manager or now the Director of Offender Management. Performance relative to targets and milestones is assessed quarterly through the Integrated Probation Performance Framework (IPPF), which provides the basis for the published provider ratings.
	Sex offender treatment programmes are delivered as a requirement of either a community sentence or release on a post-custodial licence. They are delivered alongside a supervision requirement, which is overseen by an Offender Manager. Supervision commences as soon as the offender is sentenced or released from custody and involves assessment of risk and treatment needs in addition to sentence planning and preparing the offender to engage in treatment. Other measures designed to protect the public may also be put in place, such as Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). Supervision requirements for sex offenders are usually longer (up to three years) in order to allow sufficient time for treatment to be completed.
	The following table sets out the actual delivery of accredited sex offender treatment programme completions against targets for each probation area since 2006-07.
	
		
			  Probation sex offender treatment programme delivery targets 
			   2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			  Probation area  Delivery  Target  Delivery  Target  Delivery  Target 
			 Avon and Somerset 38 - 35 48 27 24 
			 Bedfordshire 28 - 20 20 15 15 
			 Cambridgeshire 18 - 24 20 24 24 
			 Cheshire 43 - 36 35 40 40 
			 County Durham 12 - 14 12 13 12 
			 Cumbria 14 - 12 12 11 10 
			 Derbyshire 27 - 29 21 24 21 
			 Devon and Cornwall 53 - 39 52 50 45 
			 Dorset 21 - 20 24 21 20 
			 Dyfed Powys 4 - 4 3 6 4 
			 Essex 46 - 29 35 4! 41 
			 Gloucestershire 24 - 24 22 12 12 
			 Greater Manchester 37 - 50 50 60 60 
			 Gwent 14 - 15 16 13 13 
			 Hampshire 24 - 50 50 45 45 
			 Hertfordshire 17 - 22 20 26 25 
			 Humberside 29 - 23 23 23 23 
			 Kent 47 - 48 45 55 50 
			 Lancashire 42 - 45 41 44 43 
			 Leicestershire 44 - 27 21 28 26 
			 Lincolnshire 17 - 22 20 10 10 
			 London 77 - 106 100 102 100 
			 Merseyside 31 - 14 30 12 12 
			 Norfolk 19 - 29 29 30 30 
			 North Wales 8 - 17 13 26 13 
			 North Yorkshire 13 - 16 14 16 14 
			 Northamptonshire 15 - 10 10 15 15 
			 Northumbria 38 - 44 44 50 50 
			 Nottinghamshire 14 - 30 30 35 35 
			 South Wales 8 - 18 15 15 15 
			 South Yorkshire 39 - 37 36 40 36 
			 Staffordshire 43 - 41 34 42 35 
			 Suffolk 21 - 20 21 20 20 
			 Surrey 22 - 16 21 17 17 
			 Sussex 35 - 51 50 39 35 
			 Teesside 18 - 16 13 13 13 
			 Thames Valley 55 - 65 50 64 60 
			 Warwickshire 16 - 15 14 15 14 
			 West Mercia 41 - 29 25 30 25 
			 West Midlands 118 - 110 109 110 109 
			 West Yorkshire 48 - 64 60 61 60 
			 Wiltshire 23 - 24 24 27 20 
			 England and Wales 1,301 (1)1,200 1,360 1,332 1,367 1,291 
			 (1) In 2006-07 there were no area-level targets for SOTP completions, only a national target.

Terrorism: Compensation

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will assess the merits of introducing retrospective compensation for British victims of terrorism overseas.

Claire Ward: The Government are considering proposals to establish a scheme to compensate the victims of overseas terrorist attacks. There are a number of complex issues to consider, including whether such a scheme should apply to past terrorist attacks. I expect a decision to be made shortly.

Truancy

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many parents appeared in court in relation to their children's truancy in  (a) England and  (b) North East Cambridgeshire in each of the last 10 years.

Claire Ward: Information showing the number of persons proceeded against in relation to their children's truancy in England and Cambridgeshire police force area from 1998 to 2007 (latest available) can be found in the following table.
	Data are not available at constituency level; police force area data have been provided in lieu. Data for 2008 are planned for publication on 28 January 2010.
	
		
			  Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates' courts for offences relating to truancy( 1 ) in Cambridgeshire police force area and England, 1998 to 2007( 2,3) 
			  Proceeded against  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 Cambridgeshire 28 32 5 15 16 17 40 64 49 44 
			 England 4,931 4,860 5,125 6,023 6,510 6,724 7,545 7,299 8,723 10,171 
			 (1) Includes the following; (i) Failure to secure regular attendance at school. (Education Act 1996 S.444 (1X8)). (ii) Parent knows that their child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school. (Education Act 1996 S.444(8X1aX8a) added by Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 S.72). (iii) Offences against the Education Acts 1944-2002. (This classification to be used when a person is prosecuted for an offence under 'The Education Acts') (Not to be used where there is a specific code for an offence under one of the Education Acts or for offences under (i) or (ii)). (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.

Young Offenders: Foster Care

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons the evaluation of the Youth Justice Board's intensive fostering scheme has not been completed in accordance with the original timetable; what estimate he has made of the effects on the costs of the evaluation of its extended duration; and when he expects the outcomes of the evaluation to be published.

Maria Eagle: The timetable for the Intensive Fostering Evaluation was extended by nine months from 1 March 2008 to 31 December 2008 to allow extra time for the recruitment of the sample and the control group, as the initial setting up of the pilot programmes and referrals of children into the programme took longer than initially anticipated. The additional cost for this extension was £34,090.00.
	The first draft of the Intensive Fostering Evaluation report was received by the Youth Justice Board in December 2008. Since then it has been revised and then sent out to peer review. The peer review comments and questions are in the process of being dealt with and it will be available for publication in the first quarter of 2010. The delays have not affected the cost of the evaluation as dealing with reviews and comments is built in to the initial contract.

HEALTH

Accident and Emergency Departments: Greater London

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on the number of patients using accident and emergency services in the London North Central District in each of the last five years.

Mike O'Brien: Information is collected on first attendances in accident and emergency (AE) departments. This excludes follow up visits for the same condition, but counts each attendance by the same patient for different conditions separately. The following table shows reported first attendances for north central London.
	
		
			  First attendances at A and E departments, minor injury units and walk in centres, NHS organisations in London North Central District, 2004-05 - 2008-09 
			First attendances 
			  Org ID  Name  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 RVL Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust 137,251 146,758 148,436 145,965 150,072 
			 5A9 Barnet Primary Care Trust 69,691 82,493 84,122 72,230 78,570 
			 5C9 Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust - - - - 36,640 
			 RP6 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 33,052 45,202 52,684 58,671 64,487 
			 RAP North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust 142,414 153,283 151,702 140,171 107,902 
			 RAL Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust 73,522 75,130 73,717 74,002 77,308 
			 RKE The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust 77,283 89,921 91,715 89,231 86,991 
			 RRV University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 76,910 82,109 91,429 94,962 93,558 
			  Total 610,123 674,896 693,805 675,232 695,528 
			  Source:  Department of Health Quarterly Monitoring of A and E dataset

Care Homes

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of residential care homes that would convert to sheltered accommodation or extra care housing as a result of the implementation of his legislative proposals on personal care at home.

Phil Hope: It is open to any residential care home to reshape their service, subject to appropriate registration of the new service. Comments are welcomed on the likely impact of these proposals in the current consultation, Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance, and this is something that we will wish to explore with relevant stakeholders. A copy of the document has already been placed in the Library.

Care Homes: Standards

Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether a care home requires a valid planning consent in order to comply with the national minimum standards for care homes set out by his Department.

Phil Hope: It is for local planning authorities to determine whether planning consents are required in individual cases.
	Under the Care Standards Act 2000 and the Health and Social Care Acts 2003 and 2008, the Government have set up an independent regime of inspection and regulation of health and social care providers. All care homes in England are regulated-registered and inspected-by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
	CQC regulates care homes in accordance with statutory regulations-the Care Homes Regulations 2001-and national minimum standards. The regulations set out what providers must do by law. The Government introduced national minimum standards to set out clearly what care homes are expected to provide to demonstrate that they comply with the regulations.
	Further information is available at:
	www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Planning/ThePlanningSystem/
	and
	www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/public/planning/

Care Quality Commission: Expenditure

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the Care Quality Commission has spent on  (a) public relations,  (b) public affairs and  (c) surveys of hon. Members since its creation.

Mike O'Brien: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) took over from the Healthcare Commission, the Mental Health Act Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection on 1 April 2009.
	CQC has informed us that expenditure on CQC's media and public affairs from 1 April 2009 to 31 October 2009 was £439,508 for staff costs and £156,672 for non-staff costs. CQC does not have a budget for public relations activity.
	Since 1 April 2009, CQC has commissioned part of one survey of hon. Members. This survey is ongoing. The CQC is an independent organisation and has told us that the cost to CQC is £14,985 not including VAT.

Departmental Freedom of Information

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 his Department received in 2008; and how many of these received a substantive response within 20 days.

Phil Hope: In 2008, the Department received 1,349 requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
	Within these 1,349 requests, 1,167 received a substantive response within 20-days.

Departmental Public Relations

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Eddisbury of 23 June 2009,  Official Report, column 853W, on departmental public relations, what the  (a) remit and  (b) purpose was of hiring each public affairs consultancy for each of the listed bodies; and what company was hired in each case.

Phil Hope: The information requested is not held centrally.
	The data requested is operational detail that can be obtained directly from the bodies concerned. Those bodies which procured work from public affairs consultancies between 1999-2000 and 2008-09 were identified in the answer of 23 June 2009,  Official Report, column 853W. More detailed information about this work can be sought from the individual bodies concerned.

Dieticians: Qualifications

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding on average his Department provides for a four year dietetics degree which allows the holder to register as a registered dietician with the Health Profession Council.

Ann Keen: The Department provides funding to strategic health authorities to commission training places on dietician degree courses. In 2008-09, the bench mark price for the cost of tuition in that year for a four year dietetics degree was £8,830 per national health service funded student. Eligible students on this course also receive a means tested NHS bursary from the NHS Student Bursaries Unit. In 2008-09 the average NHS bursary per eligible student was £2,482 for that year.
	In addition to the NHS bursary, dietician students are also eligible to apply for a non means tested student loan from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Driving

Stephen Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what mechanisms are in place to ensure that staff who drive  (a) a vehicle for which (i) his Department and (ii) one of its executive agencies is responsible have valid driving licences and  (b) their own vehicles in the course of their official duties for (A) his Department and (B) one of its executive agencies have valid driving licences and insurance; what guidance is issued to those staff in respect of road safety while carrying out official duties; what steps are taken to monitor compliance with that guidance; what requirements there are on such staff to report to their line managers accidents in which they are involved while driving in the course of their official duties; and whether such reports are investigated.

Phil Hope: Staff in the Department and its agencies do not use departmental vehicles. Those staff who use their own vehicles for business use, are personally responsible for ensuring that insurance and other driving documentation requirements are met. This must be confirmed on each claim for reimbursement of such expenses.
	No specific guidance is issued in respect of road safety. Road traffic accidents are not reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995.

Exercise

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment his Department has made of the effects of regular exercise on the health of people aged  (a) 18 to 25,  (b) 26 to 49,  (c) 50 to 69 and  (d) 70 years old and more.

Gillian Merron: The Chief Medical Officer's report At least five a week-Evidence on the impact of physical activity and its relationship to health-sets out the evidence for the health benefits of regular physical activity for children and adolescents, adults and older adults. It was published in 2004 and a copy of the report has already been placed in the Library.
	To take in to account more recent research, the Department is currently working with Welsh Assembly Government, Public Health Agency for Northern Ireland and NHS Health Scotland to review the existing United Kingdom recommendations for the dose of physical activity required for general health benefits.

Gender Identity Disorder: Prisoners

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the Prison Service Order on gender dysphoria to be published.

Phil Hope: A draft Prison Service Order (PSO) on guidelines for the management, treatment and care of prisoners who have or have had gender dysphoria is currently undergoing revision following the ruling of a recent Judicial Review in which the claimant, a pre-operative transgender prisoner, applied for Judicial Review of a decision of the defendant Secretary of State for Justice refusing to transfer her from a male prison to a female prison. The application was accepted and the outcome ruled in favour of the claimant.
	The Department is currently reviewing the health aspects of the draft PSO and will provide advice to officials at the Ministry of Justice who are responsible for all other aspects within the PSO.
	There is no agreed date as yet for publication of the PSO. The final PSO will be comprehensive as it deals with very complex issues such as the general position in law on the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and Disclosure of Information as well as general principles concerning the treatment of prisoners living 'in role', and guidance around searching. This PSO will ensure that all staff are fully aware and understand the protocols for managing prisoners who have or have had gender dysphoria.

General Social Care Council

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the General Social Care Council's report for 2008-09 to be published.

Ann Keen: The General Social Care Council's Annual Report and Accounts for 2008-09 are expected to be published on 7 December 2009.

Health Services: Crown Dependencies

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what  (a) the total monetary value was of elective health treatment purchased from the NHS by the Isle of Man government in each of the last 20 years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  with which  (a) countries,  (b) overseas territories and  (c) other jurisdictions the National Health Service has reciprocal agreements comparable to the agreement between the NHS and the Isle of Man; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  on what statutory basis he cancelled the reciprocal agreement between the NHS and  (a) Jersey and  (b) Guernsey in respect of (i) Scotland, (ii) Northern Ireland and  (c) Wales; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what discussions  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials of his Department had with their counterparts in (i) the Northern Ireland Executive, (ii) the Scottish Executive and (iii) the Welsh Assembly Government on the discontinuance of reciprocal health arrangements between the NHS and (A) Guernsey and (B) Jersey with effect from 1 April 2009; and if he will make a statement;
	(5)  what discussions  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials of his Department have had with their counterparts in the Scottish Executive on the discontinuance of reciprocal health arrangements between the NHS and the Isle of Man with effect from 1 April 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: holding answer for PQ301050 25 November 2009
	 In addition to the Isle of Man, the United Kingdom Government currently have reciprocal healthcare agreements with Australia, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, New Zealand, Russia, St. Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Serbia Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia.
	All of these agreements are similar in that they provide healthcare cover for tourists from non European Union member states.
	The Overseas Territories of Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, St. Helena and Turks and Caicos can each refer, to the national health service, four patients per year, specifically for elective treatment. In the case of the Isle of Man and Gibraltar, a financial allocation is set aside each year and is made available for elective treatment following clinical referral.
	The following table shows the allocation provided by the UK to the Isle of Man under the terms of the bi-lateral healthcare agreement. This allocation is used to fund elective NHS healthcare. The Isle of Man may also have commissioned elective treatment outside of the terms of the agreement but this information is not held by the Department of Health centrally.
	Allocation made available to the Isle of Man under reciprocal healthcare agreement:
	
		
			  Allocation to Isle of Man 
			   £ million 
			 2008-09 2.80 
			 2007-08 2.65 
			 2006-07 2.50 
			 2005-06 2.35 
			 2004-05 2.21 
			  Note: Prior to 2004-05 allocation was uncapped 
		
	
	The agreement with the Isle of Man contained a six-month notice period; the UK Government exercised that right and a termination date of 31 March 2010 was agreed with the Isle of Man. The Department gave notice on the agreements with both the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man on behalf of the UK. Prior to this, departmental officials consulted with the Ministry of Justice and with officials from the devolved Administrations.

Hospitals: Hygiene

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on the level of hand hygiene among (i) doctors, (ii) nurses, (iii) other NHS staff, (iv) patients and (v) visitors to hospitals in the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The Department's policy research programme has funded an independent four year research study to assess the implementation of the clean your hands campaign, its sustainability, and the impact on hand hygiene and on health care associated infection. The evaluation has shown that, as a result of the campaign, there has been a sustained change in hand hygiene behaviour in acute hospitals nationally, with a three-fold rise in procurement and use of alcohol hand rub and soap; and that there appears to be a strong association between reductions in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and use of alcohol hand rub.
	Further information about the evaluation is available online at:
	www.idrn.org/nosec.php

Impact Assessments

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Regulatory Impact Assessments published by his Department have cited peace of mind as a policy objective since 1997.

Phil Hope: The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mental Capacity Act 2005

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what  (a) amendments have been made to and  (b) representations he has received on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: There have been no amendments made to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in the last 12 months.
	A number of representations have been made in the last 12 months as shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Case type  Total 
			 Parliamentary questions 3 
			 Departmental e-mails 52 
			 Correspondence 24 
			 Telephone inquiry 1 
			 Total 80

Mental Health Services: Prisoners

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on services for people in the criminal justice system with mental health conditions; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: Ministers and officials at the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice work closely together to improve the health care available for people in the criminal justice system.
	Improving Health, Supporting Justice, the national delivery plan of the health and criminal justice programme board was published on 17 November. It includes the Government's response to Lord Bradley's review of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in the criminal justice system.

NHS: Finance

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding was allocated to the NHS research and development budget in each of the last five years; and how much such funding had not been disbursed at the end of each such financial year.

Gillian Merron: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   National health service research and development budget  Funding not disbursed to research and development at year end 
			 2004-05 601 2.1 
			 2005-06 617 0 
			 2006-07 659 0 
			 2007-08 730 (1)28.8 
			 2008-09 792 2.7 
			 (1) Includes £26 million reallocated to meet other departmental priorities.

NHS: Finance

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department spent per capita in each primary care trust in England in each of the last three years.

Mike O'Brien: The information has been placed in the Library.

NHS: Procurement

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on medical supplies and equipment in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: Total revenue expenditure on clinical supplies and services taken from the national health service audited summarisation schedules was £4,922,822,000 in 2008-09, which is the latest period for which figures are available.
	Revenue expenditure on clinical supplies and services is taken to include drugs, dressings, medical and surgical equipment, x-ray equipment and supplies, laboratory equipment, appliances (e.g. artificial limbs and wheelchair hardware) and the maintenance of equipment. The Department does not collect information that allows capital expenditure on medical equipment to be disaggregated from total capital expenditure.

NHS: Yorkshire and the Humber

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent  (a) medical consultants,  (b) other medical staff,  (c) nurses,  (d) other professional staff,  (e) administrative and clerical staff and  (f) auxiliary staff were employed by (i) Pontefract and Pinderfields NHS Trust and (ii) Dewsbury NHS Trust between 1996 and 2002.

Ann Keen: The information is not available in the format requested. In 2002, Pinderfields and Pontefract NHS Trust and Dewsbury Health Care NHS Trust merged to form the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Therefore, the figures for the individual trusts are not available for 2002. The information that is available is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  NHS hospital and community health services: NHS staff in each specified organisation by main staff group as at 30 September each year 
			  Full-time equivalent 
			   1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001 
			  Dewsbury Health Care NHS Trust 1,857 1,829 1,868 2,020 2,120 2,255 
			 All medical and dental staff 145 147 150 156 166 194 
			 Consultant 46 45 47 52 59 63 
			 Other medical and dental staff 99 102 103 105 107 130 
			
			 All non-medical staff 1,712 1,682 1,718 1,864 1,954 2,061 
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff 911 880 906 997 1,036 1,088 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 705 679 681 750 772 807 
			 Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff (S,T and T) 206 201 225 246 264 281 
			
			 Support to clinical staff 554 557 570 591 630 676 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff 481 482 489 502 535 574 
			 Support to S,T and T staff 73 75 81 88 96 101 
			
			 NHS infrastructure support 245 243 242 276 287 297 
			 Central functions 135 136 133 162 178 183 
			 Hotel, property and estates 73 71 70 77 76 77 
			 Managers and senior managers 37 36 39 37 34 38 
			
			 Other staff or those with unknown classification 2 2 0 0 0 0 
			
			  Pinderfields and Pontefract NHS Trust 3,550 3,477 3,541 3,504 3,495 3,669 
			 Medical and dental staff 297 308 321 192 203 204 
			 Consultant 106 107 115 119 123 120 
			 Other medical and dental staff 191 201 206 73 80 83 
			
			 All non-medical staff 3,253 3,169 3,220 3,312 3,292 3,465 
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff 1,594 1,573 1,602 1,642 1,612 1,653 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 1,219 1,198 1,216 1,243 1,187 1,204 
			 Qualified S,T and T staff 375 375 386 399 425 449 
			
			 Support to clinical staff 1,028 1,034 1,092 1,127 1,122 1,212 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff 873 883 936 960 939 964 
			 Support to S,T and T staff 155 151 156 167 183 248 
			
			 NHS infrastructure support 628 559 523 538 554 596 
			 Central functions 166 155 134 142 151 168 
			 Hotel, property and estates 383 333 322 329 345 368 
			 Managers and senior managers 79 71 67 68 59 59 
			
			 Other staff or those with unknown classification 4 3 3 5 4 4 
			  Notes: 1. In 1996, Pontefract Hospitals NHS Trust and Pinderfields Hospitals NHS Trust merged to form Pinderfields and Pontefract NHS Trust. Figures for 1996 are an aggregate of these two predecessor organisations. 2. Full-time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.  Source: The Information Centre for health and social care

Social Enterprise Investment Fund

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  which organisations have received grants from his Department's Social Enterprise Investment Fund since July 2008; and how much each has received;
	(2)  on what date each organisation in receipt of a grant from the Social Enterprise Investment Fund  (a) applied for and  (b) received its grant;
	(3)  how much funding his Department has assigned to the Social Enterprise Investment Fund for  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10;
	(4)  what criteria are used to assess applications to his Department's Social Enterprise Investment Fund.

Phil Hope: The allocations for the Social Enterprise Investment Fund (SEIF) are as follows.
	
		
			   Revenue (£ million) (Revenue includes fund manager costs)  Capital (£ million) 
			 2008-09 8.534 11 
			 2009-10 9.294 26 
		
	
	The criteria used to assess applications are published on the Department's website, and are as follows:
	you have to be a social enterprise according to the Government definition-a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally invested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners;
	your proposed services have to deliver health and/or social care outcomes;
	the ultimate beneficiaries of your proposal must be based in England;
	you have to be unable to secure funding from a commercial bank;
	you must be able to repay the investment and be able to show how you plan to do so; and
	your proposal must help meet the aims of SEIF.
	The organisations that have received investment from the SEIF are in a table which has been placed in the Library.
	To date in 2009-10 the following organisations have been beneficiaries of the SEIF from Social Investment Business
	
		
			  £ 
			  Organisation  Business development grant  Revenue grant  Revenue loan  Capital loan 
			 Destiny Support - 4,000.00 - - 
			 MiLife UK CIC - - 50,000.00 - 
			 Deep Green Care Community 10,250.00 - - - 
			 Eagle Recruitment Centre - 10,000.00 - 40,000.00 
			 Paul Lambden (East Lanes PCT) 12,000.00 - - - 
			 DeCoda - - 115,000.00 - 
			 Caleb CIC - - 50,000.00 234,571.27

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost of implementing the provisions of personal care as set out in the Personal Care at Home Bill using a definition of personal care which includes the services listed in paragraph 4.9 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill.

Phil Hope: It is not appropriate to do so, as Instrumental Activities of Daily Living are outside the definition of Personal Care as set out under the draft regulations being made under sections 8 and 20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 4.6 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, if he will publish by the end of 2009  (a) the model and  (b) the costing produced by the model.

Phil Hope: As stated in the Impact Assessment, work on this is ongoing. We are currently modelling costs and will be consulting more widely with stakeholders to test those costing assumptions. The consultation will run until 23 February 2010.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 5.2 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, whether the expectation of costs of providing personal care reflects an expected use in  (a) unit costs,  (b) costs to councils or  (c) other costs.

Phil Hope: The point being made in paragraph 5.2 of the Impact Assessment is that the 'do nothing' option will not impose any additional costs beyond those currently met by councils or individuals. In addition, those individuals who currently make a means-tested contribution to their care costs will not, under the 'do nothing' option, be protected against any future increases in the care charges levied by councils.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to table 2 and Annex 1 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, if he will publish the logistic model used to calculate each individual's need for formal care; and from what source data were derived to populate that model.

Phil Hope: The logistic regression model referred to in Annex 1 is used to estimate a continuous measure of need for individuals 65 and over in the third wave of the English longitudinal study of ageing (ELSA). The data used to populate the model was from the third wave of ELSA. The specification of the model is as follows:
	logit(p) = b0 + b1X1 + b2X2 + b3X3 + b4X4 + b5X5 + b6X6 + b7X7 + b8X8 + b9X9
	where p is the probability of receiving formal care (either state, private or voluntary sector funded)
	b0 is a constant term
	b1 to b9 are co-efficients on the independent variables X1 to X9
	X1 is the individual's age in years
	X2 is the square of the individual's age in years
	X3( )is 1 if the individual has difficulty with dressing and 0 if not
	X4( )is 1 if the individual has difficulty with walking and 0 if not
	x5( )is 1 if the individual has difficulty with bathing and 0 if not
	x6( )is 1 if the individual has difficulty with eating and 0 if not
	x7( )is 1 if the individual has difficulty with going to bed and 0 if not
	x8 is 1 if the individual has difficulty with going to the toilet and 0 if not
	x9( )is 1 if the individual lives alone and 0 if not

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to Annex A of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, from what source the assumption that home care represents 74 per cent. of overall community care costs and personal care represents 85 per cent. of that is derived.

Phil Hope: The figure of 74 per cent. is derived from Personal Social Services EX1 expenditure data for older people and estimated by expressing the expenditure on home care services in terms of overall expenditure. In the absence of data on the share of home care costs represented by personal care we have made a conservative, illustrative assumption of 85 per cent.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 5.9 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, what methodology was used to reach the estimate that a further 108,964 persons already have their personal care needs met free of charge; and what the equivalent estimated figure is for  (a) 2015,  (b) 2020,  (c) 2025 and  (d) 2030.

Phil Hope: The Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU)'s micro-simulation model for older people estimated a volume of fair access to care services (FACS) critical individuals who already receive state-funded care at home.
	This figure was broken down into those who are FACS critical and report difficulty with four or more activities of daily living (ADLs) by using the information in the English longitudinal study of ageing, which is presented in table 1 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill. The 108,964 represents the residual volume of FACS critical individuals from PSSRU's model-i.e. those reporting difficulty with less than four ADLs.
	The figures in the impact assessment cover the period from October 2010 to the end of 2012-13. Estimating beyond this point is problematic because of the uncertainties involved. For instance, the proposals here are intended as a step towards a fully integrated national care service, at which point a different set of assumptions may need to be applied.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons the net present value costs identified in table 3 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill are inconsistent with the present value costs identified on page 2.

Phil Hope: Table 3 of the impact assessment shows the net present value costs of extending the offer of free personal care at home to those in highest need-i.e. individuals who are estimated to be fair access to care services critical and who report difficulty with four or more activities of daily living. The net present value costs reported in the summary sheet on page 2 also include the costs of offering re-ablement services, estimated to be £130 million in 2011-12.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the inherent uncertainties referred to in paragraph 5.10 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill are.

Phil Hope: The uncertainties are those aspects of people's behaviour that will change as a result of the introduction of these proposals. An accurate forecast of these therefore cannot be made. The impact of the policy will be reviewed after 12-18 months to ensure that it is being applied properly and that there are no perverse incentives.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 5.11 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, what his Department's  (a) minimum and  (b) maximum estimate of re-ablement costs are.

Phil Hope: We understand that there is wide variability in costs of re-ablement in different councils. The Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill makes clear that the £1,000 cost of re-ablement per person is an assumption-paragraph 5.15 states, If we assume the cost of a package of re-ablement is £1,000 per person...-and its derivation is clearly and transparently stated in Annex B. Given the uncertainties associated with alternative cost figures and the relatively conservative stance taken with regard to potential benefits, the £1,000 per person estimate used in the impact assessment is not considered to be unreasonable.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to paragraph 5.12 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, if he will place in the Library a copy of the model referred to.

Phil Hope: The model referred to in paragraphs 5.12, 5.13 and Annex B of the Impact Assessment is still under development. For this reason, its output has not been incorporated into any of the figures reported in the Impact Assessment. The model will continue to be updated and refined as more information becomes available.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill; whether he plans to make individuals eligible for more than one package of re-ablement funded by the taxpayer.

Phil Hope: This is something that we invite comments on as part of the consultation, 'Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulation and guidance', a copy of which has already been placed in the Library. There are currently no proposals to restrict packages of re-ablement. It will be for councils to determine who might benefit from this intervention and whether it is appropriate to repeat this at a later date.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 4.6 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, in what cases he expects the indicative sum to be administered  (a) by the council and  (b) through an individual budget or direct payment.

Phil Hope: It will be for individuals to choose whether they wish the council to provide services through a personal budget on their behalf or whether they wish to take a direct payment and arrange services for themselves.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, what re-ablement schemes he expects to be available; and what home additions might be made under such schemes.

Phil Hope: This would be a matter for local discretion based on the assessment of an individual's needs. In our consultation, 'Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance', we suggest that this could include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, installation of telecare or adaptations to the house. A copy of the document has already been placed in the Library.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to Annex B of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, how the average number of hours of personal care per week of 6.54 was calculated; and whether the  (a) calculation and  (b) figure of 6.54 hours has been published by his Department previously.

Phil Hope: The model referred to in paragraphs 5.12, 5.13 and Annex B of the Impact Assessment is still under development. For this reason, its output has not been incorporated into any of the figures reported in the Impact Assessment. The model will continue to be updated and refined as more information becomes available.
	The assumption used for the average number of hours of personal care per week of 6.54 was used for illustrative purposes. It is derived by converting the cost and volume estimates from the Personal Social Services Research Unit's (PSSRU) micro-simulation model for older people into an equivalent weekly number of hours. Although this figure has not been previously published, a reference to a technical paper giving further details of PSSRU's micro-simulation model is given in Annex A of the Impact Assessment.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 5.13 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, what his Department's  (a) minimum and  (b) maximum estimates of net savings are.

Phil Hope: The model referred to in paragraphs 5.12, 5.13 and Annex B of the impact assessment is still under development. For this reason, its output has not been incorporated into any of the figures reported in the Impact Assessment. The model will continue to be updated and refined as more information becomes available.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  with reference to Table 4 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, what methodology was used to calculate each estimate;
	(2)  with reference to paragraph 5.21 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, on what grounds he made his illustrative assumptions; and when the further work in paragraph 5.23 will be  (a) undertaken and  (b) published;
	(3)  with reference to the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, what methodology was used to calculate the figure given for total benefit.

Phil Hope: A technical paper that addresses these points has been placed in the Library.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to collect centrally data relating to  (a) Fair Access to Care Services critical people and  (b) reablement.

Phil Hope: The consultation document, Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance, has sought views from councils on what data may be required and how they might be collected. A copy of the document has already been placed in the Library.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to operate his policy on free personal care as set out in the Personal Care at Home Bill by means of individual budgets.

Phil Hope: The consultation document, Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance, makes it clear that we intend that the free personal care component would form part of a personal budget and could be used flexibly to meet agreed outcomes. A copy of the document has already been placed in the Library.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Explanatory Notes for the Personal Care at Home Bill, whether external legal advice was sought on the effects on human rights of the proposals in the Personal Care at Home Bill.

Phil Hope: Legal advice relating to legislation is generally provided by departmental lawyers. No external legal advice was sought on this matter.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether children would be eligible to receive taxpayer-funded personal care under his proposals for personal care as set out in the Personal Care at Home Bill.

Phil Hope: These proposals are for adults over the age of 18. Children will continue to be covered, as they are now, under separate legislation.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 7.10 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, what  (a) events and  (b) submissions have contributed to the consultation being undertaken on effects on particular regions; and if he will publish (i) the responses to and (ii) the outcomes of this consultation by the end of December 2009.

Phil Hope: Comments on the impact of the policy on different councils are invited in the consultation document, Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library. The consultation will run until 23 February and a response will be published following that.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to paragraph 7.10 of the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, how many beneficiaries he expects there to be in each local authority area in England.

Phil Hope: This information is not available at a local authority level.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of people assessed as critical under the Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) eligibility framework in each of the last five years were subsequently assigned to another FACS band.

Phil Hope: This information is not held centrally.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether free personal care under his proposed changes to the care system would continue if a person assessed as critical under the Fair Access to Care Services eligibility framework was subsequently assessed at a different level.

Phil Hope: Councils are under a duty to regularly assess an individual's needs and adjust the support available to them as needs change. Under our proposals, if an individual should no longer meet the criteria they would no longer be eligible for free personal care.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, what assessment he has made of the effects of enactment of his legislative proposals on competition in the care home sector.

Phil Hope: This policy is designed to support individuals who want to live at home for as long as possible where this is what they wish. With an ageing population there will continue to be a need for residential care, and this will remain an appropriate setting in which to meet some people's care needs.

Social Services

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the Impact Assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill, for what reasons the impact assessment does not include costings for policy enforcement by local authorities.

Phil Hope: An estimate of the associated administrative costs of the policy for local authorities is included in table 2 of the impact assessment for the Personal Care at Home Bill and these have been estimated at £27 million.

Social Services

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the merits of a national resource allocation system for the provision of free personal care; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: The Department has looked at the merits of a national resource allocation system (RAS). The range of provision varies substantially between different local authorities, which makes a national RAS unrealistic at the present time.
	As part of the Regulations and guidance which will inform the working of the Personal Care at Home Bill, the Department plans to develop a national assessment tool for all authorities to use to ensure a consistent application of the eligibility criteria for free personal care at home. The consultation document, Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance, asks for comments on three options as to how available resources and funding might be allocated to individuals by councils. The consultation document has already been placed in the Library.

Social Services

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the capacity of local authorities to provide free personal care under the terms of the Personal Care at Home Bill; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: The plans for free personal care at home for those with the highest care needs should build on the most innovative practices already adopted by many local authorities and primary care trusts. We have already begun engaging with local authority stakeholders to discuss the workings of the scheme, and councils are invited to respond to the consultation document, Personal Care at Home: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance. The consultation document has already been placed in the Library.

Social Services: Finance

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his Department's Personal Care at Home consultation document, from what budgets the £420 million of central funding will be drawn.

Phil Hope: Changes to planned expenditure in 2010-11 to cover the Department's £420 million contribution to the funding of the Personal Care at Home Bill include nearly £50 million from indicative advertising and communications spending, over £60 million from management consultancy spending and over £20 million in reduced administration costs.
	In addition, a saving of £62 million will be achieved by transferring responsibility for research activity from other departmental budgets to the Department's ring-fenced research and development budget. That budget will rise to over £1 billion in 2010-11. The research it currently funds will continue as planned.

Tuberculosis: Health Services

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will establish a national programme to co-ordinate the provision of prevention and control services for tuberculosis.

Gillian Merron: Tuberculosis (TB) services delivered by the national health service are recommended to follow the advice contained in the Chief Medical Officer's Action Plan Stopping Tuberculosis in England published in 2004, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance Clinical diagnosis and management of tuberculosis and measures for its prevention and treatment published in 2006, and the Department's TB Toolkit Tuberculosis prevention and treatment: a toolkit for planning, commissioning and delivering high-quality services in England issued in 2007. Copies of the plan and toolkit have already been placed in the Library.
	Organisation and delivery of TB services are the responsibility of NHS management, and we have held stakeholder meetings to work with local services to review the overall strategy for TB control.
	We have also delivered a number of initiatives to TB services across England, including:
	Free treatment drugs for all TB patients have been provided; and
	Systematic screening of prisoners for TB in key prisons is being implemented.
	In addition, we are funding an awareness raising strategy, aimed at primary healthcare professionals with locally targeted messages to high-risk groups to improve early detection.

Tuberculosis: Health Services

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what  (a) criteria and  (b) methodology his Department uses to determine the effectiveness of the port of entry system in the monitoring of tuberculosis.

Gillian Merron: Screening at ports of entry is a Home Office policy, and managed by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). Therefore, the Department has no specific criteria for determining the effectiveness of the port of entry tuberculosis (TB) screening programme.
	The HPA indicate that just over 0.1 per cent. of those screened by X-rays at Gatwick and Heathrow are reported to have pulmonary TB.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Home Information Packs

David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment his Department has made of the effects of home information packs on the housing market since their introduction.

Ian Austin: We are currently working up proposals to evaluate the effectiveness of the HIPs programme and expect the results to be available in 2010. Early independent research undertaken by Europe Economics and published in November 2007 concluded that the introduction of HIPs would not have a negative impact on the housing market.

Business Rates Revaluation

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will conduct an impact assessment on the effect on businesses of the 2010 business rates revaluation.

Barbara Follett: Regular revaluations are a standard part of the business rates system and are required by statute. Therefore, no impact assessment has been undertaken by my Department on the overall implementation of the 2010 business rates revaluation.
	A final impact assessment of our £2 billion transitional relief scheme for revaluation 2010 was published on 17 November.

Northumberland Unitary Authority

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will visit Northumberland to discuss the funding of the new unitary authority.

Rosie Winterton: I can reassure the right hon. Gentleman that I have already had discussions with Northumberland about funding.
	My right. hon. Friend the Secretary of State, along with my right hon. Friend the Minister for the North East met the leader and chief executive of Northumberland in the summer.
	In addition, officials are maintaining a regular dialogue with council officers, with their next meeting being in Morpeth on Friday this week.

Kirkby: Regeneration

George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is for the regeneration of Kirkby; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: Her Majesty's Government recognise the importance of regeneration in Kirkby, as demonstrated by the £72 million of public and European investment that has been made into Kirkby and the surrounding areas.
	My right hon. Friend met yesterday with my right hon. Friend the Minister for the North West (Mr. Woolas), to explore opportunities for the development of Kirkby town centre. It was agreed that a proposal would be produced for the redevelopment of the town centre to create enhanced retail, leisure, office and public sector facilities for the residents of Kirkby. Key regional bodies will be working with partners in Knowsley to develop this proposal, and I have asked my officials to keep closely involved in supporting and monitoring progress on this work.
	The Regional Minister will chair a further meeting in early January to take stock of progress.

Tenants Rights

Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent steps he has taken to protect the rights of tenants; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: The Government's response to Julie Rugg's independent review of the private rented sector set out a range of proposals aimed at improving the quality and professionalism of the sector for tenants.

Fire-setting

Celia Barlow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent steps fire and rescue services have taken to discourage fire-setting behaviour in juveniles and adults.

Shahid Malik: The Fire and Rescue Service is increasingly engaged in a range of youth work activities, specifically targeting youths at risk from social exclusion, and those who show signs of fire play, including adults, as part of their community safety work. To support Fire and Rescue Services CLG is working with the Arson Control Forum to help steer the direction of their work programme. This will include encouraging further Fire and Rescue Service activity to address fire related antisocial behaviour activity by children and adults, as research shows that intervention can help reduce the problem.

Out-of-town Supermarkets

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what account the planning guidance issued by his Department takes of the effect on town centres of the location of out-of-town supermarkets.

John Healey: Planning Policy Statement 6 (PPS6) requires a sequential approach to site selection to ensure that the most central sites are considered first. It also requires local authorities to consider whether unplanned edge or out-of-centre proposals will result in any unacceptable impacts on existing centres. PPS6 will soon be replaced with Planning Policy Statement 4: Planning for prosperous economies (PPS4) which will strengthen the approach to assessing the impact of development proposals for town centre uses.

Worklessness

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations he has received on the role of local authorities in reducing worklessness.

Rosie Winterton: I, my ministerial colleagues and my officials, are in regular contact with a range of organisations on this important issue, including individual local authorities and the Local Government Association.
	Local authorities and their partners play a vital role in tackling worklessness, through leading, co-ordinating and delivering integrated partnership responses to worklessness that are tailored to local needs.
	That is why we topped-up the £1.5 billion Working Neighbourhoods Fund with an additional £40 million last month, and that is why local authority-led partnerships are responsible for around half of the 95,00 Future Jobs Fund jobs announced so far.

Business and Community Safety Forum

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to extend the appointment of Councillor Les Byrom as Chair of the Business and Community Safety Forum; and if he will make a statement.

Shahid Malik: Arrangements for an extension to Councillor Byrom's appointment as Chair of the Business and Community Safety Forum are currently being finalised. The extension would mean Councillor Byrom continuing in the role of Chair until March while a review of the forum's effectiveness is undertaken.

Council Housing: Finance

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much local authority housing debt has been removed following large-scale voluntary transfers since 1997.

Ian Austin: Since 1997 the amount of local authority housing debt the Department has paid to the Public Works Loans Board following large scale voluntary transfers is £4.226 billion.

Council Housing: Finance

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much historic housing debt remains a local authority responsibility.

Ian Austin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman) on 29 October 2009,  Official Report, column 519W.
	Local authorities are responsible for all the housing related debt that they hold.

Derelict Land

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made on the London Brownfield Sites Database; and whether he plans to extend the database across England.

Ian Austin: The London Brownfield Sites database was launched on 8 October 2009 by the London Development Agency and the Homes and Communities Agency. The database is a freely available online tool. It is being used by all 33 London local planning authorities and other stakeholder groups including the Environment Agency, Natural England and English Heritage. Visitors to the database website are able to identify sites suitable for development, and explore and understand a site's context due to the themed data made available. Data include transport routes, deprivation, social infrastructure, as well as heritage and natural environment assets. The Homes and Communities Agency is considering options for the development of similar systems in other English regions. As part of this process HCA will monitor the effectiveness of the London Brownfield sites database over the coming months.

Derelict Land

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made on establishing the National Brownfield Forum; and whether the forum will include non-governmental environmental organisations.

Ian Austin: The first meeting of the National Brownfield Forum was held in February 2009. It has since met twice further. Membership of the forum is made up of both governmental and non-governmental organisations, including Environmental Protection UK, the Environmental Industries Commission and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

Disabled Facilities Grants

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the level of  (a) demand and  (b) funding available for disabled facilities grants in Somerset; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what his latest estimate is of disabled facilities grant allocations in each local authority in England as a percentage of assessed grant need in the latest year for which information is available; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Austin: Communities and Local Government provided local authorities in Somerset with £1.7 million in 2009-10 towards their disabled facilities grant budgets.
	The 2009-10 estimates on the disabled facilities grant allocations as a percentage of assessed need is available on Communities and Local Government website at
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/supportandadaptations/housingadaptations/localauthoritydfgallocations/
	Local authorities are required to complete an annual claim and monitoring form to the Department for disabled facilities grants. This includes information on the level of contribution claimed from central government, levels of expenditure and levels of demand. The most recent data collection exercise, which has been expanded in 2009-10 to gather more information on levels of grant need, is nearly complete and we will be publishing the figures early in the new year.

Disabled Facilities Grants

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department has allocated for disabled facilities grants (DFG) in each local authority  (a) per head of population,  (b) per person of retirement age and  (c) per person in receipt of disability living allowance and/or attendance allowance in 2009-10; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Austin: Communities and Local Government provided £158 million in 2009-10 to support local authorities in their responsibilities to deliver disabled facilities grants. Funding has grown steadily from £57 million in 1997-98. That funding is allocated to local authorities using a formula which takes into account regional level data from the English House Condition Survey on the number of disabled people in each region living in unsuitable housing and a regional building cost index. For each local authority there is also a local needs indicator, based on the number of individuals in that authority in receipt of either disability living allowance or attendance allowance.
	The levels of funding ranked by head of population, per person of retirement age and per person in receipt of disability living allowance and/or attendance allowance are not collected by Communities and Local Government.

Disabled Facilities Grants

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the average time taken for the award of disabled facilities grants in each local authority in Somerset; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Austin: Communities and Local Government does not collect information from local authorities on the average time taken for the award of disabled facilities grants. Responsibility for the management and delivery of the programme rests with local housing authorities.

Eco-Towns: Biodiversity

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the proposals on protecting and enhancing biodiversity in eco-towns published by the Town and Country Planning Association on 1 December 2009.

John Healey: The biodiversity worksheet published by the Town and Country Planning Association on 1 December is part of a series of best practice worksheets to support those taking forward eco-town proposals. Like all the worksheets in the series it is advisory and not a statement of Government policy. All the worksheets have been produced with the input of a range of stakeholders, including from Government and agencies.

Fire Services

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether a business continuity assessment will be included in the comprehensive area assessment in respect of the fire and rescue service in the next assessment period; and if he will make a statement.

Shahid Malik: Effective contingency planning and emergency preparedness by authorities is a performance expectation set out within the Government's National Framework for the Fire and Rescue Service. An assessment of general preparedness in each fire and rescue authority has already taken place as a part of this year's comprehensive area assessment and will be publicly reported on 9 December on the new oneplace website.
	Further assessment of specific business continuity preparedness will take place as a part of the next period of comprehensive area assessment.

Fires

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to make a formal response to the ministerial submission of 2 April 2009 from the Business and Community Safety Forum on the fires in timber-framed constructions; and if he will make a statement.

Shahid Malik: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department for Transport on 28 May 2009 to the joint ministerial submission from the Business and Community Safety Forum and Practitioners Forum. I have placed a copy of the reply in the Library.

Fires

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions he has had with  (a) the Chief Fire Officers Association,  (b) the Health and Safety Executive,  (c) local authorities and  (d) the Building Research Establishment on regulation of the construction of timber-framed buildings on construction sites; and if he will make a statement.

Shahid Malik: The implications for fire safety on timber framed construction sites was discussed at my meetings with the joint Business and Community Safety Forum and the Practitioners' Forum on 13 October and, in the light of the recent fire in Peckham, with the Chief Fire Officers Association Presidential Team on 1 December.
	Officials are in regular contact with representatives from all these organisations on a wide range of issues, including fire safety on construction sites where timber-framed buildings are being erected. Most recently, officials met on 3 December with representatives from the fire service, local authority building control bodies, Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors and the Health and Safety Executive to consider what use could be made of the statutory consultation process between Building Control bodies and the fire safety departments of local Fire and Rescue Services to aid their operational pre-planning.

Housing

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of all households were in  (a) private owner-occupied,  (b) private rented and  (c) social rented accommodation in each London local authority area in each of the last five years.

Ian Austin: Figures are reported for dwellings and not households.
	Local authorities report the number of private and total dwellings within their local authority area in their Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix returns. There is no distinction between owner-occupiers and private renters. Table 1 provides the percentage of all dwellings that were privately owned.
	Additionally, local authorities also report the number of dwellings owned by local authorities and registered social landlords in their local authority area. Table 2 provides the percentage of all dwellings, within the social sector.
	Total dwellings also include other public sector dwellings and therefore figures in tables 1 and 2 will not add to 100 per cent.
	
		
			  Table 1: Percentage of dwellings that are private housing within each London local authority, 2004-08 
			   Private housing dwellings as a percentage of total dwellings 
			  London local authority  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 Barking and Dagenham 66.3 66.7 67.5 67.8 67.8 
			 Barnet 85.5 86.5 86.4 86.4 86.5 
			 Bexley 86.6 86.0 87.4 86.8 86.6 
			 Brent 75.1 75.2 75.7 76.0 76.1 
			 Bromley 86.1 86.9 88.3 87.8 86.2 
			 Camden 63.7 65.2 64.0 63.9 64.5 
			 City of London 84.1 85.4 85.5 86.0 86.4 
			 Croydon 83.1 83.3 83.3 83.1 83.0 
			 Ealing 81.4 81.4 79.9 79.4 79.8 
			 Enfield 83.6 84.0 84.3 84.1 84.1 
			 Greenwich 62.0 63.5 64.5 64.3 64.9 
			 Hackney 47.0 49.7 51.5 51.7 52.3 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 65.8 65.1 66.5 66.4 66.6 
			 Haringey 71.4 71.6 70.2 69.3 72.1 
			 Harrow 89.1 89.3 89.3 89.1 89.4 
			 Havering 85.4 85.5 85.9 86.6 86.2 
			 Hillingdon 82.3 82.4 82.2 82.2 82.1 
			 Hounslow 77.1 77.4 78.1 78.5 77.8 
			 Islington 53.1 54.4 55.7 57.2 58.6 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 77.7 78.1 77.5 77.5 77.8 
			 Kingston upon Thames 88.3 88.4 88.5 88.7 88.6 
			 Lambeth 58.8 59.9 59.5 61.5 62.9 
			 Lewisham 66.7 68.2 68.5 68.5 68.5 
			 Merton 85.5 85.5 86.2 86.4 86.2 
			 Newham 66.5 67.5 69.4 68.3 68.5 
			 Redbridge 89.5 90.9 90.5 89.7 89.7 
			 Richmond upon Thames 88.3 87.7 87.9 88.2 88.0 
			 Southwark 50.0 51.5 52.8 53.3 54.4 
			 Sutton 84.0 85.3 84.7 84.8 84.2 
			 Tower Hamlets 54.9 57.5 59.0 60.4 58.9 
			 Waltham Forest 75.3 77.6 78.2 77.9 78.1 
			 Wandsworth 77.6 78.1 78.1 79.2 79.1 
			 Westminster 77.4 77.9 78.1 78.2 78.3 
			 Total 74.6 75.3 75.6 75.7 75.8 
			  Source: Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (section A) 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Percentage of dwellings that are social housing within each London local authority, 2004-08 
			   Social housing dwellings as a percentage of total dwellings 
			  London local authority  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 Barking and Dagenham 33.7 33.3 32.5 32.2 32.2 
			 Barnet 14.1 13.1 13.2 13.1 13.0 
			 Bexley 13.4 14.0 12.6 13.2 13.4 
			 Brent 22.7 22.7 22.2 23.9 23.8 
			 Bromley 13.9 13.1 11.7 12.2 13.8 
			 Camden 36.3 34.8 36.0 36.1 35.5 
			 City of London 13.0 12.0 11.9 11.6 11.6 
			 Croydon 16.8 16.7 16.7 16.9 16.9 
			 Ealing 18.5 18.5 19.9 20.5 20.2 
			 Enfield 16.3 16.0 15.6 15.8 15.8 
			 Greenwich 37.3 35.9 34.8 35.1 34.5 
			 Hackney 52.8 50.3 48.5 48.3 47.7 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 34.0 33.7 32.4 32.5 32.5 
			 Haringey 28.5 28.3 29.8 30.7 27.9 
			 Harrow 10.6 10.4 10.5 10.7 10.4 
			 Havering 14.5 14.5 14.1 13.3 13.7 
			 Hillingdon 16.8 16.7 16.6 16.5 16.6 
			 Hounslow 22.7 22.4 21.7 21.4 22.0 
			 Islington 46.8 45.6 44.3 42.8 41.3 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 22.3 21.9 22.5 22.5 22.2 
			 Kingston upon Thames 11.7 11.6 11.5 11.3 11.4 
			 Lambeth 40.9 40.1 40.2 38.3 36.9 
			 Lewisham 32.6 31.1 30.8 30.8 30.8 
			 Merton 14.4 14.3 13.7 13.6 13.8 
			 Newham 33.2 32.1 30.5 31.4 31.2 
			 Redbridge 9.2 9.0 9.4 10.3 10.2 
			 Richmond upon Thames 11.3 11.9 11.9 11.6 11.8 
			 Southwark 50.0 48.5 47.2 46.7 45.6 
			 Sutton 16.0 14.7 15.3 15.2 15.8 
			 Tower Hamlets 44.9 42.3 40.7 39.3 40.9 
			 Waltham Forest 24.7 22.3 21.7 22.0 21.9 
			 Wandsworth 22.1 21.6 21.6 20.5 20.6 
			 Westminster 22.2 21.7 21.5 21.4 21.3 
			 Total 25.1 24.4 24.1 24.1 24.0 
			  Source: Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (Section A)

Housing: Carbon Monoxide

Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will review the ventilation standards for vehicle garages attached to domestic properties with a view to reducing the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Ian Austin: Ventilation standards for buildings are set in Part F of the Building Regulations (England and Wales), but the standards do not currently cover garages attached to dwellings.
	The Department has recently consulted on proposed changes to Part F intended to ensure that health standards are not undermined by making buildings more airtight and hence energy efficient.
	The consultation document did not contain any proposals to extend Part F ventilation requirements to domestic garages. However, we will consider any evidence of a need to do so as part of the next review of Part F standards starting in 2010.

Housing: Prices

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average sale price of a home in a rural area was in each year since 1997.

Ian Austin: The average sale price of a home in a rural area in England for each year since 1997 is presented in the following table:
	
		
			   Rural local authorities (£) 
			 1997 81,133 
			 1998 88,290 
			 1999 97,647 
			 2000 109,879 
			 2001 122,185 
			 2002 143,579 
			 2003 166,061 
			 2004 189,029 
			 2005 198,804 
			 2006 211,470 
			 2007 226,251 
			 2008 223,859 
			  Source: Land Registry. Local authorities that are classed as rural under the DEFRA rural codes have been included and local authorities classed as Urban by DEFRA have been filtered out.

Housing: Regeneration

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been spent by each Pathfinder Partnership operating in the  (a) North of England and  (b) Midlands since the inception of that scheme.

Ian Austin: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Jim Cousins) on 21 October 2009,  Official Report, columns 1503-04W.

Local Government Finance: Bury

David Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding was allocated by his Department to Bury Metropolitan Borough Council in  (a) 2007-08 and  (b) 2008-09 in respect of (i) revenue grant and (ii) specific grants; and what the percentage change was on the previous year in each case.

Barbara Follett: Formula Grant (which is made up of Revenue Support Grant, National Non-Domestic Rates and Principal Formula Police Grant) is the main revenue grant funding made to local authorities aside from those made for specific purposes by individual Departments. Formula Grant is distributed to local authorities by Communities and Local Government on behalf of central Government as a whole. The following table sets out the information requested.
	
		
			   Prior year's adjusted formula grant( 1)  (£ million)  Formula grant change( 1)  (£ million)  Change( 1) (£ million)  Change( 1)  (percentage) 
			 2007-08 56.357 57.926 1.568 2.8 
			 2008-09 61.118 63.103 1.985 3.2 
			 (1) On a like for like basis taking account of changes such as, for example, finance or function. 
		
	
	The following table sets out the information on specific grants provided by this Department.
	
		
			  Grant  2007-08  (£ million)  2008-09  (£ million)  Change  (£ million)  Change (percentage) 
			 Planning Delivery(1) 0.295 n/a n/a n/a 
			 Housing and Planning Delivery(1) n/a 0.182 n/a n/a 
			 Homelessness 0.325 0.325 0 0 
			 Supporting People 6.653 6.611 0.042 -0.63 
			 Supporting People Administration(2) 0.149 n/a n/a n/a 
			 (1) The Planning Delivery Grant was replaced by the Housing and Planning Delivery Grant in 2008-09. (2) Supporting People Administration Grant was provided through Area Based Grant in 2008-09. 
		
	
	In addition to the funding set out, Area Based Grant (ABG) was introduced in April 2008. ABG is also paid by this Department on behalf of Government and comprises of a number of former specific revenue grants formerly provided by individual Government Departments. The allocation to Bury council in 2008-09 was £8.630 million, of which the Communities and Local Government element of funding was £0.732 million.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeowners in rural areas have accepted an offer through the Mortgage Rescue scheme in each quarter since the launch of the scheme.

John Healey: We have acted rapidly to put in place a range of help and support for households struggling with their mortgage at every stage, and launched a campaign to ensure households have clear information about the help available.
	Mortgage Rescue Scheme summary monitoring statistics are published on a quarterly basis on the Department's website. Figures can be assessed using the following link:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/mortgagerescuestatistics
	Quarterly figures reported by local authorities from January to September 2009 are provided in a table which has been placed in the Library.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which constituencies his Department identified as suitable for its advertising campaign on the Mortgage Protection Scheme.

John Healey: The Department is not running an advertising campaign on the Mortgage Protection Scheme.
	The Department is running an advertising campaign to encourage homeowners struggling with their mortgage payments to seek information on the wide range of help and advice open to them, and this campaign has not been defined by parliamentary constituency.

Planning Permission: Ports

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department has made an assessment of the merits of monitoring planning applications for marina developments.

Ian Austin: No assessment has been made of the merits of monitoring planning applications for marina developments.

Planning Policy Statement 22

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the likely effects of the implementation of Planning Policy Statement 22 on the number of schools, charities and voluntary organisations which generate renewable energy.

Ian Austin: Planning Policy Statement 22, supported by a companion guide, encourages regional planning bodies and local planning authorities to include policies in their development plans that support renewable energy developments. The climate change supplement to Planning Policy Statement 1 gives a further boost to renewable energy development. A regulatory impact assessment was carried out to accompany PPS22. This did not identify any specific impacts on schools, charities or voluntary organisations.

Sheltered Housing: Finance

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent on sheltered housing in  (a) Lewes constituency,  (b) the South East and  (c) England in each of the last five years.

Ian Austin: The Supporting People budget provides support to Sheltered Housing and is allocated to top tier local authorities. Data on spend are therefore not available at a district level.
	The following table sets out the amount spent on sheltered housing or very sheltered housing through the Supporting People programme for East Sussex county council, the south-east region and England in the last five years where complete data are available.
	
		
			   Sheltered housing  Very sheltered housing  Total 
			  2007-08
			 South-east region 23,965,794.26 4,372,908.12 28,338,702.38 
			 East Sussex 1,665,175.64 343,308.39 2,008,484.03 
			 England 175,760,689.66 30,973,895.07 206,734,584.72 
			 
			  2006-07
			 South-east region 26,147,188.27 4,669,837.36 30,817,025.63 
			 East Sussex 1,966,171.13 373,570.59 2,339,741.72 
			 England 190,805,121.94 32,184,518.20 222,989,640.14 
			 
			  2005-06
			 South-east region 26,518,939.31 4,315,921.77 30,834,861.08 
			 East Sussex 2,035,349.34 336,967.47 2,372,316.81 
			 England 193,952,236.41 33,738,063.33 227,690,299.74 
			 
			  2003-04
			 South-east region 28,760,656.61 4,889,523.88 33,650,180.49 
			 East Sussex 2,421,458.94 450,520.28 2,871,979.21 
			 England 216,485,624.84 31,132,183.86 247,617,808.70

Sheltered Housing: Finance

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much each district council in East Sussex spent on sheltered housing in each of the last three years.

Ian Austin: The Department for Communities and Local Government do not collect spend data on sheltered housing at district level.

Sheltered Housing: Tamworth

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many sheltered housing tenants there are in Tamworth borough council area.

Ian Austin: There are 453 tenants in sheltered housing within the Tamworth borough.

Social Landlords: Ethnic Groups

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) black and minority ethnic people and  (b) women have served on the boards of registered social landlords in the last five years; how many (i) black and minority ethnic people and (ii) women have served (A) as chair of the board and (B) on the boards of the 50 largest registered social landlords in that period; what proportion of board membership each group represented in that period; and what remuneration the chair of each such board received in each year.

Ian Austin: The Government do not collect information pertaining to housing association board members remuneration. A table containing the remaining information requested is as follows. This includes information on housing association Chairs which cannot be disaggregated:
	
		
			  Female and BME members of RSL governing bodies: 2005-09 
			   Total female governing body members  Total governing body members  Percentage female govern in g body members  Total BME governing body members  Total governing body members (excluding undisclosed/unknown ethnicity)  Percentage BME governing body members 
			  All RSLs   
			 2005 6872 17971 38.2 2189 17530 12.5 
			 2006 6751 17324 39.0 2252 16904 13.3 
			 2007 6626 17099 38.8 2195 16550 13.3 
			 2008 6650 16855 39.5 2140 16316 13.1 
			 2009 6269 15702 39.9 2051 15322 13.4 
			  50 Largest RSLs   
			 2005 192 604 31.8 84 594 14.1 
			 2006 197 582 33.8 91 579 15.7 
			 2007 194 589 32.9 82 569 14.4 
			 2008 204 620 32.9 91 610 14.9 
			 2009 206 583 35.3 94 563 16.7 
			  Notes: 1. Data are reported as at 31 March each year. 2. Largest 50 RSLs are calculated for each year based on the stock owned and/or managed. 3. BME includes all ethnic groups apart from White British (i.e. White Irish and White Other are included in the definition)  Source: Regulatory and Statistical Return part P

Social Rented Housing: Standards

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the effect on quality of management and level of property maintenance of rent reductions by registered social landlords in the last three years.

Ian Austin: The guideline limits for registered social landlord rent increases under rent restructuring are taken from the previous September's retail price index (RPI) + 0.5 per cent. In addition to applying the guideline limit, RSLs can increase rents by up to an additional £2 per week in order to bring the actual rent charged closer to the target rent level.
	The guideline limit in each of the last three years was as follows:
	
		
			   Percentage 
			 2009-10 +5.5 
			 2008-09 +4.4 
			 2007-08 +4.1 
		
	
	The Government sponsors the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) to regulate RSLs in England in order to ensure that they are properly governed and that they provide decent homes and services for tenants.

Sustainable Development

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions he has had with the Local Government Association on the progress of bids submitted under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007.

Rosie Winterton: Officials have met with representatives from the Local Government Association, acting as Selector, on a number of occasions in order to co-operate with them as they draw up a shortlist of proposals under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007. The Selector Panel met on 23 October 2009, 11 November 2009 and 20 November 2009 to discuss which proposals should be included on the short-list. The decisions made by the Selector Panel at these meetings are available on the Local Government Association's website. I understand the Selector Panel is due to meet again on 22 December 2009 and is expected to submit the shortlist to the Secretary of State thereafter. The Secretary of State will then consult the Selector and try to reach agreement on which proposals should be implemented. Further discussions on the progress of proposals will take place as part of this process.

Temporary Accommodation

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will rank local authorities in England by the numbers of tenants in temporary accommodation in each local authority area  (a) on 2 December 2009,  (b) in April 2009,  (c) in 2008 and  (d) in 2007; how many such tenants there were in each local authority area in each case; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Austin: Information about English local housing authorities' actions under the homelessness legislation (Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected at local authority level, and published by the Department in the quarterly Statistical Release on Statutory Homelessness, available both in the Library and via the CLG website:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/homelessnessq22009
	Data collected include the number of households accepted by local housing authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty (to secure that suitable accommodation is available). If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available, and this information is also collected.
	The number of households in temporary accommodation in each local authority at the end of each quarter is published in the supplementary table of the Statutory Homelessness Statistical Release. The equivalent figures for previous years can be found in earlier additions of the Release, accessible from this link:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/homelessnessstatistics/publicationshomelessness/

CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES

Academies: Finance

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families for each academy where the Government has agreed with sponsors to reduce capital funding contributions how much has been repaid from within the core budget in  (a) each financial year to date,  (b) 2009-10 and  (c) each year specified in a funding agreement.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 7 December 2009
	There are two types of sponsorship payments for academies: traditional procurement and the endowment model. It is for traditional procurement academies that sponsorship payments are a contribution to the capital cost of constructing academy buildings. The amount of cash sponsorship varies according to how many academies a particular sponsor has. The timing for the receipt of payments varies from academy to academy and is agreed as part of the Funding Agreement between the Department and the academy.
	The following table lists the academies where we have paid additional costs in lieu of part of a sponsors' contribution. The table shows the total sponsorship pledged for each academy and the amount contributed to date. The contribution from sponsors is broken down into the amount that they have given and the additional costs that were initially paid by the Department and which have subsequently been recovered. The timescale for the recovery of additional costs is agreed individually for each academy.
	
		
			  Academy sponsorship 
			  £ million 
			 Amount recovered by the Department and which counts towards the sponsor's contribution  
			  Academy  Total sponsorship pledged  Amount contributed by sponsor  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10  Total amount recovered by the Department  Total confirmed capital contribution (contributed by sponsor and recovered by the Department) 
			 Barnsley(1) 1.50 0.03 - - - - - 0.00 0.03 
			 Lambeth 2.00 0.66 0.34 0.50 0.37 - - 1.34 2.00 
			 Northampton 2.00 0.65 - - 0.29 0.35 0.35 0.99 1.65 
			 Paddington(1) 1.50 0.43 - - - - 0.21 0.21 0.64 
			 Salford(1) 1.60 0.21 - - - - - 0.00 0.21 
			 Stockport(1) 1.50 0.20  0.00 0.20 
			 William Hulme(1) 0.95 0.00 - - - - - 0.00 0.00 
			 Manchester 2.00 0.34  0.95 0.14 0.19 0.19 1.47 1.81 
			 Bradford (Cathedral) 1.00 0.00 - - - - - 0.00 0.00 
			 Enfield OASIS 2.00 0.31 - - - - - 0.00 0.31 
			 Harefield-Hillingdon 1.50 0.70 - - - - - 0.00 0.70 
			 Harris Bermondsey 1.50 0.49 - - - - - 0.00 0.49 
			 Harris South Norwood 2.00 0.25 - - - - - 0.00 0.25 
			 Landau Forte (Derby) 0.46 0.46 - - - - - 0.00 0.46 
			 Leicester Samworth 2.44 2.06 - - - - - 0.00 2.06 
			 Macmillan 1.25 0.45 - - - - - 0.00 0.45 
			 St. Francis of Assisi 2.00 1.19 - - - - - 0.00 1.19 
			 The City Academy (Bristol) 2.50 1.67  0.00 1.67 
			 Westminster 1.50 0.00 - - 0.60 0.30 0.30 1.20 1.20 
			 (1) For these multiple academy sponsors, who have already committed £2 million to a number of academy projects, the commitment is for the sponsor to use reasonable endeavours to raise funds.   Note:  All figures as at 2 December 2009.

Children: Day Care

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children attend  (a) Sure Start facilities and  (b) children's centres in Hampstead and Highgate constituency; and how much such facilities cost in the last 12 months for which information is available.

Dawn Primarolo: The first Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) were set up in 1999-2000. Sure Start Children's Centres were introduced from 2003-04. All former SSLPs have now become Sure Start Children's Centres.
	Camden local authority has 17 Sure Start Children's Centres reaching a total of over 10,600 under fives and their families. Of these six children's centres are in the Hampstead and Highgate constituency reaching a total of around 3,500 under fives and their families.
	The latest year for which we have an audited spend is 2007-08 for which Camden local authority spent a total of 6,267,295. The allocations for Sure Start Children's Centres revenue and capital are included within the wider Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Grant Main Revenue and Main Capital funding respectively. Funding in these blocks is not ring fenced and the authority has the freedom to decide how much to spend on each area supported by the grant, in line with local priorities.

Children: Day Care

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many  (a) Sure Start centres and  (b) children's centres have been opened in North East Lincolnshire since 1997; and what funding his Department has provided for such centres in that period.

Dawn Primarolo: The first Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) were set up in 1999-2000. Sure Start children's centres were introduced from 2003-04. All former SSLPs have now become Sure Start children's centres.
	North East Lincolnshire local authority has 14 designated Sure Start children's centres reaching a total of over 9,800 under-fives and their families.
	The total Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Grant provided to North East Lincolnshire local authority since 1997, for which information is available is around £54,719,000.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to Annex A of his Department's Annual Report 2009, pages 214-15, which programmes and allocations have been aggregated under the categories  (a) Support for Youth and  (b) Support for Children and Families.

Dawn Primarolo: Detail on the constituent parts of expenditure, aggregated in DCSF's departmental annual report 2009, are provided as follows for the year 2010-11.
	
		
			  Departmental allocation 
			  £000 
			   DEL 
			  2010-11  Resource  Capital  Total 
			  (a) Support for Youth 5,868,757 240,500 6,109,257 
			  of which:
			 Educational qualifications 199,570 500 200,070 
			 Support for Youth through Learning and Skills Council 5,464,567 240,000 5,704,567 
			 Offender Education 24,081 - 24,081 
			 Local Delivery; 14-19: Diploma Costs, Local Delivery and Attainment 172,252 - 172,252 
			 Bridging allowances, community industry pensions and property disposal adjustment 1,434 - 1,434 
			 Youth Task Force: Research, Communications and LA grants 6,853 - 6,853 
			 
			  (b) Support for Children and Families 1,553,170 111,648 1,664,818 
			  of which:
			 Connexions 24,143 - 24,143 
			 Other Support for Young People 240 - 240 
			 Children and Families Programmes 1,528,787 111,648 1,640,435

Departmental Scientists

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many  (a) scientific advisers and  (b) civil servants in scientific posts there are in his Department.

Diana Johnson: This Department has one scientific adviser, our chief scientific adviser. There are no 'hard' scientific posts in the Department, although we have a large number of social science posts. At the end of October 2009, there were 218 specialists in social scientific disciplines (economics, statistics, social research and operational research) in the DCSF, including our chief scientific adviser. In addition, there are nine specialists in social scientific disciplines in the joint DCSF/DWP Child Poverty Unit. All of these specialists are civil servants.

Departmental Scientists

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on how many occasions he has met  (a) the Government chief scientific adviser and  (b) his Department's chief scientific adviser in the course of his official duties in the last 12 months.

Diana Johnson: The Secretary of State has not had any meetings with  (a) the Government chief scientific adviser in the course of his official duties in the last 12 months. And  (b) the Department's chief scientific adviser has attended six meetings with the Secretary of State during this period.

Families: Advisory Services

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what criteria local authorities use to determine whether families should be referred to family group conferences.

Dawn Primarolo: It is for local authorities to determine what services to provide for families in their area and on what basis they should be offered in line with the relevant statutory framework. They will set their own criteria to determine whether families should be referred to a family group conference service (FGC). As part of their wider approach to supporting families to stay together, some local authorities have made it mandatory that an FGC is offered to the family before a child enters care or as soon as possible afterwards in the case of an emergency placement. Others have developed key trigger points within a local authority's involvement with a family where a decision about the child is required.

GCSE: North East

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of pupils  (a) were persistent absentees and  (b) obtained five GCSEs at grade A* to C including English and mathematics at each maintained secondary school in (i) Newcastle upon Tyne, (ii) the County of Northumberland and (iii) North Tyneside and Gateshead in (A) 2007 and (B) 2008.

Vernon Coaker: The main way school level information is published is in the Secondary School Achievement and Attainment Tables on the Department's website at the following links:
	 2007
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/performancetables/schools 07.shtml
	 2008
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/performancetables/schools 08.shtml
	User-friendly Excel versions have also been placed in the House Libraries.
	The 2009 Secondary School Achievement and Attainment Tables will be published in January 2010.
	School level 'persistent absence' figures were first published in 2008. The 2007 tables give figures relating to 'unauthorised absence'.

Gifted Children: Milton Keynes

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of pupils in North-East Milton Keynes constituency have participated in gifted and talented programmes in each year since 2000.

Diana Johnson: The Department does not collect data about participation in gifted and talented programmes. Through the School Census schools are asked to confirm the number of gifted and talented pupils they have identified. The following table provides data on how many children were identified as gifted and talented in the January census between 2006, when the question was first asked, and 2009.
	2006 records include Secondary G and T pupil data only. Otherwise, figures include Primary(1) and Secondary(1,)( )(2) school data broken down by the number(3) and percentage of gifted and talented pupils.
	(1) Includes middle schools as deemed.
	(2) Includes City Technology Colleges and Academies.
	(3) Excludes dual enrolments.
	
		
			   2006 (Secondary only)  2007  2008  2009 
			  NE Milton Keynes  Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage 
			 Primary n/a n/a 370 3.9 610 6.2 600 6.1 
			 Secondary 380 6.6 560 8.5 540 8.1 540 7.9 
			  Note: Pupil numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.

Home Education

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children under the age of 16 years were being educated at home  (a) at the latest date for which information is available and  (b) in each year since 1997.

Diana Johnson: We do not collect information centrally about the number of children under the age of 16 who are electively home educated because there is no current requirement for these children to be registered with local authorities. Graham Badman's 'Review of Elective Home Education in England', published in June 2009, estimated that there were around 20,000 home educated children and young people currently known to local authorities.

KBR

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether his Department has entered into any contracts with Kellogg, Brown and Root or its subsidiaries since January 2009.

Diana Johnson: Our financial records show that the Department has not made any payments to the company Kellogg, Brown and Root or its subsidiaries since January 2009 and we do not hold any contract information for this company on our central database.

Pupils: Emotional Intelligence

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will bring forward proposals for the measurement of emotional intelligence of school pupils.

Diana Johnson: The DCSF currently offers schools, through the National Strategies, a Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning programme to help children and young people to manage themselves, their own emotions, their thoughts and their behaviours and develop positive relationships with each other. In addition, we jointly fund the National Healthy Schools programme with the Department of Health which requires schools to satisfy criteria across four themes in order to become a Healthy School.
	Both programmes promote a 'whole school' approach to developing the emotional health and wellbeing of children and young people through a shared vision, creating a positive ethos, strong relationships and inclusive leadership.
	The DCSF has no proposals or plans to measure the emotional intelligence of school pupils.

Schools

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the value for money of public funding for school-based learning about international development.

Diana Johnson: The Department has not made an assessment of the value for money of public funding for school-based learning about international development. But we know that international issues are important to young people and we are clear they should be covered in subjects such as geography, history and citizenship.

Schools: Asbestos

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  in how many schools in  (a) Essex and  (b) Castle Point has asbestos been found in the last three years;
	(2)  if he will publish Essex County Council's response to his Department's survey of the  (a) presence and  (b) management of asbestos in schools in Essex; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 7 December 2009
	The Department's survey asked for information on whether schools contain asbestos-containing materials. It also asked questions about asbestos management in local authorities and schools. The Department did receive a response from Essex county council but we are not in a position to publish any of the local authority responses as this information may be required for legal purposes. The Health and Safety Executive is planning follow up investigations in 2010 in a number of local authorities to clarify the information provided.

Schools: Electricity

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what third-party approvals are required when electrical cables and wires are installed in newly-built school premises.

Vernon Coaker: There is no legal requirement to obtain third-party approval of electrical wires and cables. However competent electrical consultants would specify the use of cables branded BASEC and approved by the British Approvals Service for Cables (BASEC).

Schools: Finance

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will bring forward proposals for the reform of the Dedicated School Grant to increase the amount disbursed to schools.

Vernon Coaker: We launched a review of the Dedicated Schools Grant in January 2008 and it is now nearing its conclusion. For the first 18 months, up to July 2009, the Formula Review Group was gathering evidence on the main issues. Since July we have been developing options and it remains our intention to consult on proposals in the new year.

Schools: Finance

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will increase his Department's expenditure on schools in Herefordshire.

Vernon Coaker: In November 2007, the Government announced the three year indicative education settlements for all local authorities in England from 2008-10 to 2010-11. The guaranteed funding per pupil for Herefordshire for 2009-10 is £3,830 and for 2010-11 it will be £4,002.
	Levels of funding from 2011-12 onwards will be subject to future spending decisions.

Schools: Standards

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which schools inspected since September 2009 were rated as inadequate; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: Ofsted publish these data on a termly basis and this information will be available in January 2010.

Secondary Education: Assessments

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many students in  (a) year nine,  (b) year 10 and  (c) year 11 were entered for each accredited qualification in each subject in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: This answer can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Special Educational Needs: Young Offenders

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his most recent estimate is of the proportion of young offenders who have special educational needs; and what educational provision is available to such young offenders.

Diana Johnson: Research suggests that 15 per cent. of young offenders in custody have statements of Special Educational Needs (SEN). This is compared with 2.8 per cent. of the general school population.
	The education providers in HM Prison Service Young Offenders Institutions (YOIs) are required to identify the special educational needs of young people and provide appropriate provision for them. The providers are contractually required to provide learning support in the classroom, as separate provision, or on a one-to-one basis as required. Providers are required to make available this additional support through both Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCOs) and also Learning Support Assistants (LSAs).
	Data provided to the Learning and Skills Council indicate that for the academic year August 2008 to July 2009, there were 2,932 referrals to SENCOs for 15 to 17-year-olds within Prison Service Young Offender Institutions.
	The Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, which received Royal Assent on 12 November, contains new provisions to make local authorities responsible for education in youth custody. This includes new duties on local authorities to ensure that appropriate provision is made for young people with SEN. This will help ensure that young people in custody have access to comparable support to which they could expect in community settings.

Specialist Schools: Lincolnshire

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what specialist schools have been established in North-East Lincolnshire since 1997.

Vernon Coaker: There are eight schools in North East Lincolnshire that have gained specialist status since 1997: Cambridge Park Maths and Computing College (Maths and Computing 2007), Healing School (Science 2004), Hereford Technology School (Technology 2004), Humberston Comprehensive School (Maths and Computing 2006), Matthew Humberstone Church of England School (Business and Enterprise 2003), St. Mary's Catholic School (Humanities and Language 2005), The Lindsey School and Community Arts College (Arts 2000), Tollbar Business and Enterprise College (Business and Enterprise and Humanities 2000)
	There are also three academies in North East Lincolnshire. The Havelock Academy specialises in Maths, Computing and Engineering (2007). The Oasis Academy, Immingham specialises in Engineering with Business and Enterprise (2007) and the Oasis Academy, Wintringham specialises in Sports and Health with Business and Enterprise (2007).
	The Western Technology College, in partnership with Hereford Technology School had specialist status from 2000 until 2004 until the partnership between the schools finished. The Western Technology College closed in August 2008 due to falling pupil numbers.

Teachers: Lincolnshire

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many  (a) teachers and  (b) classroom assistants were employed in maintained schools in North East Lincolnshire (i) in 1997 and (ii) on the latest date for which figures are available.

Vernon Coaker: The information requested is published in tables 19 and 26 of the Statistical First Release (SFR) 'School Workforce In England (including local authority level figures) January 2009 (revised)' published on 29 September 2009. The SFR is available at the following web link:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000874/Tables19to27_Vals.xls

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Biofuels

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what funding his Department has allocated for the purposes of developing biofuels since its establishment.

Joan Ruddock: The Department for Transport has the overall remit for biofuels. It recently published a research and development strategy for biofuels that identified the current gaps in knowledge and the areas where Government could support greater scientific progress. DECC is working closely with the other Departments concerned, industry and academia to decide how best to take this forward.
	DECC also sponsors the National Non Food Crops Centre (NNFCC), the UK's national centre for renewable fuels, materials and technologies, which is facilitating the establishment of sustainable supply chains for biofuels.

Carbon Emissions

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his latest estimate is of the amount of UK carbon dioxide emissions  (a) including and  (b) excluding the impact of emissions trading in 2008.

Joan Ruddock: Provisional estimates of 2008 emissions were published on 26 March 2009. These figures estimate that:
	UK emissions for carbon dioxide were 531.8 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtC02e)
	including for the effect of the EU Emissions Trading System, UK carbon dioxide emissions in 2008 were estimated to be 511.4 MtC02e
	The equivalent figures for all greenhouse gases are as follows:
	excluding the EU Emissions Trading System = 623.8 MtC02e
	including the EU Emissions Trading System - 603.4 MtC02e
	The most recent final figures are for estimates of 2007 emissions. These were published on 3 February 2009. Estimates for only carbon dioxide emissions are:
	excluding EU Emissions Trading System = 542.6 MtC02e
	including EU Emissions Trading System = 516.9 MtC02e
	It may be helpful to know emissions of all greenhouse gases. Again these are final 2007 figures:
	excluding EU Emissions Trading System = 636.6 MtC02e
	including EU Emissions Trading System = 611.0 MtC02e

Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his latest estimate is of the gross revenue which will arise from the sale of allowances through the Carbon Reduction Commitment Scheme before the recycling of such monies to scheme participants in each of the next five years.

Joan Ruddock: The Department currently estimates that during the introductory phase of the CRC Energy Efficiency scheme, allowance sales could generate in the region of £650 million each year in 2011 and 2012. An integral aspect of the scheme is that this sum is returned to participants six months after the main allocation of allowances, making the scheme broadly revenue neutral to the Exchequer.
	It is important to emphasise that these are preliminary estimates made using significant assumptions that will not be known with more certainty until after the start of the scheme. The main assumptions are an estimate of the quantity of emissions covered by the scheme and the uptake of energy efficiency measures within the sector. Until participants have registered for the scheme during April to September 2010 and reported their emissions in July 2011 we will not know the CRC emissions coverage accurately.
	The sum likely to be raised from the auctioning of allowances during the capped phases of the scheme from 2013 onwards is yet more uncertain. Until the Government have taken a decision on the appropriate level of the cap, taking into account advice from the Committee on Climate Change it is not possible to estimate accurately the likely revenues from the five years of the first capped phase.

Climate Change: International Co-operation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with the Minister for the Environment in the Northern Ireland Executive on the Copenhagen climate change summit; and if he will make a statement.

Joan Ruddock: I attended the joint ministerial committee on the European Union on 19 October, which focused mostly on Copenhagen. All devolved Administrations have representation on the committee.
	The British-Irish Council met in Jersey on the 17 April 2009, and the international climate negotiations were on the agenda. Lord Hunt, Minister for Sustainable Development and Energy Innovation met with the Minister for the Environment in the Northern Ireland Executive, the hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson), during the council.

Climate Change: International Co-operation

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  what account the Government's submission to the Copenhagen climate change summit will take of environmentally-friendly information and communications technology;
	(2)  whether the UK's submission to the Copenhagen climate change summit will include reference to the joint work on environmentally-friendly information and communications technology undertaken by the UN and the International Telecommunications Union.

Joan Ruddock: holding answer 7 December 2009
	The UK Government will negotiate as part of the EU in Copenhagen and as such cannot make a direct submission to the UNFCCC. It is important that the deal in Copenhagen will support the development, transfer, deployment and diffusion of technologies for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. The UK and the EU recognise the important role of public policies and finance in creating an enabling environment to redirect and scale up private investments in safe and sustainable low greenhouse-gas-emitting technologies; believe that support for technologies in developing countries should be based on assessments of country needs as reflected in their low-carbon development strategies; and argue that we should establish national and regional centres of technological excellence to promote technology development and transfer, stimulate capacity-building and improve access to information.
	We welcome the work of the International Telecommunications Union and believe it provides useful evidence of how the telecoms sector plans to respond to the need to shift to a low carbon economy to limit the effects of climate change. We have recommended that a member of the UK delegation attends the ITU joint Copenhagen summit side event on the 10 of December, if time and scheduling permits.

Climate Change: International Co-operation

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what officials from his Department will be attending the Copenhagen climate change summit.

Joan Ruddock: holding answer 7 December 2009
	On current plans, two Ministers and 36 officials from the Department of Energy and Climate Change will be attending the Copenhagen climate change summit.

Committee on Climate Change

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the Committee on Climate Change is classified as  (a) an executive agency and  (b) a non-departmental public body.

Joan Ruddock: The Committee on Climate Change is a non-departmental public body.

Departmental Internet

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many  (a) page hits and  (b) visitors his Department's website received in 2008-09.

Joan Ruddock: The Department of Energy and Climate Change was created on 3 October 2008, and its official corporate website was launched on 23 February 2009:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/
	This site received 288,094 page hits and 37,231 unique visitors from its inception up until 31 March 2009.

Departmental Pay

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has allocated for  (a) year end and  (b) in-year bonuses in 2009-10.

Joan Ruddock: Non-consolidated performance payments are an integral element of the reward package for staff. Non-consolidated performance pay has a number of key advantages:
	it encourages continuous high attainment because the payments are dependent upon continuing strong performance;
	it prevents a permanent rise in salary and an increase in pension on the basis of one off performances while still allowing good performance to be rewarded;
	it has no long term costs, in particular it does not increase future pension payments.
	it focuses the work of employees more directly on the priority goals of the organisation;
	it motivates employees by linking an element of compensation to the achievement of departmental objectives rather than offering payment for time served; and
	it targets money at those who make the biggest contribution.
	The wages/salary budget for the Department of Energy and Climate Change for 2009-10 is expected to be in the region of £57 million. Non-consolidated annual performance payments may total an estimated 1.6 per cent. of the wages/salary budget while non consolidated special bonuses may total 0.4 per cent. of the wages/salary budget.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the cost to his Department was of provision of office facilities to  (a) special advisers and  (b) press officers in the 2008-09 financial year.

Joan Ruddock: The Department manages the cost of office facilities centrally as a departmental overhead and it is therefore not possible to provide a breakdown of costs for specific departmental functions.

Energy Saving Trust: Advertising

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much was spent on advertising through each medium by the Energy Saving Trust in each of the last five years.

Joan Ruddock: The Energy Saving Trust has spent the following on advertising through each medium over the period 2005-10.
	
		
			   Amount (excl VAT) (£) 
			  2009-10  
			 TV 1,174,669 
			 Radio 254,588 
			 Online 319,194 
			 Total 1,748,451 
			   
			  2008-09  
			 Press 833,047 
			 Radio 455,044 
			 Online 988,713 
			 TV and event sponsorship 119,700 
			 Total 2,396,504 
			   
			  2007-08  
			 Press 1,352,510 
			 Online 756,842 
			 TV and event sponsorship 260,000 
			 Total 2,369,352 
			   
			  2006-07  
			 Press 2,361,454 
			 Online 800,799 
			 TV and event sponsorship 375,000 
			 Total 3,537,253 
			   
			  2005-06  
			 TV 2,083,491 
			 Press 1,347,801 
			 Online 399,911 
			 Total 3,831,203

Energy: Conservation

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much central Government funding has been spent on energy efficiency measures in  (a) local authority,  (b) housing association and  (c) private homes in City of York local authority area in each year since 1996.

Joan Ruddock: Funding to encourage take-up of energy efficiency measures in Great Britain is available primarily through three schemes: the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, Warm Front, and the Decent Homes programme. However, only Warm Front and Decent Homes are funded from the public purse. Table A illustrates the investment made under Warm Front on measures to improve the energy efficiency of homes, by tenure, in the City of York since the scheme began in 2000.
	Local authority and housing association homes are assisted through the Government-funded Decent Homes programme, as well as councils' own capital resources. Central Government has allocated City of York council £22.5 million for capital investment in their housing stock since 2001 through Decent Homes, as illustrated in Table B.
	
		
			  Table A: Warm Front spend in the City of York by tenure 
			  Tenure  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 Owner Occupied 53,277 199,993 290,005 156,061 153,903 270,285 697,635 908,532 871,559 554,966 
			 Private Rented 2,597 14,239 12,606 11,838 11,132 20,377 56,915 52,593 45,051 15,010 
			 Housing Association 922 1,179 303 - - - - - - - 
			 Local Authority 2,727 18,166 4,933 - - - - - - - 
		
	
	
		
			  Table B: Decent Homes expenditure in the City of York: Expenditure on 'capital' works (installation, replacement or major repairs) York 2001-09 
			  £ 000 
			   Bathrooms  Central h eating  Insulation  Windows  Total 
			 2001 378 638 0 641 1,657 
			 2002 335 480 23 1,282 2,120 
			 2003 327 468 1 1,533 2,329 
			 2004 369 1,007 0 1,220 2,596 
			 2005 470 995 3 769 2,237 
			 2006 560 1,545 1 550 2,656 
			 2007 530 2,797 0 71 3,398 
			 2008 508 2,654 26 0 3,188 
			 2009 501 1,496 21 267 2,285 
			 S ource: Annual returns to Communities and Local Government

Energy: Meters

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the  (a) average and  (b) maximum premium being paid by customers using pre-payment meters for (i) gas and (ii) electricity compared to customers paying by direct debit.

David Kidney: The most recent figures on tariffs are those for November 2009. The new rules outlawing undue price discrimination came into force on 1 September.
	According to the latest available figures from Ofgem, prices for an average consumer using 3,300 kWh of electricity per year, indicate an average annual differential of £28 (pre-payment compared with direct debit) and a maximum differential of £60.
	For an average consumer using 20,500 kWh of gas per year, November 2009 prices indicate an average annual differential of £49 and a maximum differential of £107.
	Ofgem produces estimates of domestic household energy bills, and these reflect current prices as at November 2009. The maximum and average differentials given here mean the difference between direct debit and pre-payment tariffs available to consumers by a single supplier within one region.

Energy: Meters

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to amend the system of pricing for pre-payment fuel meter customers.

David Kidney: E.ON, Npower, Scottish Power, EDF Energy and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) have chosen to equalise their prepayment meter tariffs with standard credit for both gas and electricity. In addition, Centrica has equalised its electricity prepayment meter tariffs with standard credit.
	New rules came into force on 1 September outlawing undue price discrimination and ensuring price differences between different payment methods for electricity and gas are cost reflective.
	In their latest Quarterly Price Report, published 7 December 2009, Ofgem reported that tariff differentials for prepayment meter customers now, on average, reflect cost differences. This report can be found online at:
	http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Markets/RetMkts/ensuppro/Documents1/Quarterly%20Wholesale%20Retail%20Price %20Report%20November%202009.pdf

Energy: Prices

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the proportion of households in  (a) England,  (b) Scotland and  (c) Wales which defaulted on energy bill payments in the last 12 months.

David Kidney: holding answer 7 December 2009
	Neither Ofgem nor the Department collect data on numbers of households that have defaulted on their energy bill payments.

Nuclear Power

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what work he is undertaking with the International Atomic Energy Agency to assist states to develop a civil nuclear energy industry while minimising the risk of nuclear weapons proliferating.

David Kidney: The UK is a committed member of the IAEA and wants the Agency to maintain and strengthen its position at the centre of international efforts to ensure a safe and secure nuclear energy future. We are the fourth largest funder, make significant voluntary contribution to its Technical Cooperation and Nuclear Security Funds, and DECC leads work with the Agency on a variety of civil nuclear related matters.
	Since 1981, the UK has provided a Support Programme (UKSP) to IAEA Safeguards. The UKSP has an annual budget of about £1 million and provides support, inter alia, with training of IAEA inspectors, analytical services and expert consultancy. Support to the IAEA's Nuclear Security Fund was doubled this year, up to £4 million. The UK also plays a key role in the IAEA's security work and the revision of the IAEA's recommendations for the physical protection of materials. DECC is also leading work on the UK-led Nuclear Fuel Assurance, one of several concepts being considered under an IAEA led initiative to provide states with an assured supply of nuclear fuel, and the Nuclear Centre of Excellence.
	UK engagement with the IAEA is set out in the UK policy document Road to 2010 (Cm 7675, published 16 July this year) - a detailed plan of action in the run up to the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in May 2010.

Oil

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had on the  (a) availability and  (b) use of (i) oil sands and (ii) oil shale.

Joan Ruddock: I would draw attention to the Westminster Hall debate of 27 October 2009,  Official Report, columns 1-23WH, on biofuels. Statistics on the use of biodiesel made from oil seed are published by the Renewable Fuels Agency on their website:
	http://www.renewablefuelsagency.org/reportsandpublications/rtforeports.cfm
	Extraction of oil from shale in the UK began in Scotland in 1862 from limited oil shale deposits in West Lothian but has not been carried out now for some 40 years. However, in the last onshore licensing round in 2008, industry did show some interest in the potential surrounding shale gas in the UK. My Department has recently contracted the British Geological Survey to carry out a reassessment of potential oil and gas shale resources in the UK.

Pay As You Save Scheme

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what progress has been made on the first pilots of the new Pay As You Save scheme.

Joan Ruddock: Since the announcement of the pilots in the Low Carbon Transition Plan in July we have undertaken the detailed design of the pilots. The applications for delivery partners closed on 6 November.
	The assessment process is now complete and the partners and corresponding locations for the pilots have recently been announced.

Renewables Advisory Board: Finance

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Grey Clark) of 12 October 2009,  Official Report, column 436W, on the Renewables Advisory Board, on what date the Renewables Advisory Board budget for 2009-10 was finalised.

Joan Ruddock: The budget for the Renewables Advisor Board was finalised on 20 August 2009.

Renewables Obligation

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of the effect on levels of competition of the cap on the number of renewables obligation certificates available for co-firing of regular biomass.

Joan Ruddock: We commissioned Oxera to look at the effects of the co-firing cap. Its report was published as part of the Renewables Energy Financial Incentives consultation and can be found at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/elec_financial/elec_financial.aspx
	We are currently drafting the Government Response addressing this issue.

Renewables Obligation

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what account he took of the findings of the report prepared by Oxera for his Department in his decision not to remove the cap on the number of renewables obligation certificates available for the co-firing of regular biomass; and what the reasons were for his decision.

Joan Ruddock: We have consulted on whether to amend the co-firing cap as part of the Renewables Energy Financial Incentives consultation which closed on 15 October 2009. The Oxera Report was prepared for DECC as part of this consultation process. We are currently drafting our response.

Renewables Obligation

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with Ofgem on the effect on the level of contribution of biomass to the renewable energy targets of retaining the cap on the number of renewables obligation certificates available for the co-firing of regular biomass.

Joan Ruddock: In its response to the Renewables Energy Financial Incentives consultation, Ofgem expressed their concern that the cap constrains the contribution to our renewable energy targets from a relatively low-cost renewable technology. We are currently drafting the Government Response addressing these issues.

Salix Finance: Loans

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much in loans has been granted by Salix Finance to  (a) public sector and  (b) private sector bodies in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10.

Joan Ruddock: Salix only works with public sector bodies. In each of the following years it has committed funds for energy saving projects to the value of:
	
		
			   Funds committed (£ million) 
			 2007-08 7.5 
			 2008-09 11.2 
			 2009-10 (to October 2009) 30.0 
			 Total 48.7 
		
	
	Salix is working with 259 public sector bodies, operating either long term recycling funds or providing 100 per cent. interest free project loans.

Siemens

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department has entered into any contracts with Siemens or its subsidiaries since February 2009.

Joan Ruddock: The Department has since February entered into one contract with Siemens Financial Services, a subsidiary of Siemens for the provision of photocopiers, to the value of £8,238.78.

Warm Front Scheme: Kent

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding has been allocated for the Warm Front scheme in  (a) Ashford constituency and  (b) Kent in 2009-10; and what the average grant awarded under the Warm Front scheme was in Ashford constituency in each of the last three years.

David Kidney: The Department does not allocate funding by region, but has a set amount of funding to be used across England. However, total spend in this financial year stands at £227,322.45 in Ashford and £7,716,053.33 in Kent as at 4 December 2009.
	The average grant awarded in the Ashford constituency in each of the last three complete years in shown in the following table.
	
		
			   Average grant  (£) 
			 2006-07 998.13 
			 2007-08 1,021.36 
			 2008-09 1,052.86

Wind Power

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for how many on-shore wind turbines planning permission has been  (a) sought and  (b) granted in (i) England, (ii) North Yorkshire and (iii) the City of York since 1996; and how many turbines have been constructed in that period.

David Kidney: The following table sets out the requested information for the reporting period since 1996:
	
		
			  Number 
			   England  North Yorkshire  City of York 
			 Planning permission sought 1,847 53 0 
			 Planning permission granted 993 27 0 
			 Turbines constructed 536 13 0 
			 So urce:  AEA Technology

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Adult Education: Student Numbers

Stephen Williams: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many 19 to 24 year olds are studying  (a) full-time and  (b) part-time on (i) first Level 2, (ii) first Level 3, (iii) subsequent Level 2 and (iv) subsequent Level 3 qualifications.

Kevin Brennan: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to him on 12 November 2009,  Official Report, column 646W.
	We do not hold data that show firstness by specific age-group or mode of attendance. Data showing participation on first full level 2 and first full level 3 qualifications are shown in a Statistical First Release (SFR), the next edition of which will be published on 17 December. The SFR can be found here:
	www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/sfroct09

Apprentices

David Evennett: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of  (a) level 2 and  (b) level 3 apprenticeship (i) starts and (ii) completions were (A) men and (B) women in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Kevin Brennan: Apprenticeship starts and achievements for 2003-04 to 2008-09 (provisional) were published in a statistical first release (SFR) on 22 October:
	http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/sfroct09
	Supplementary Table 6 shows apprenticeship starts and framework achievements by gender for 2003-04 to 2008-09 (provisional). Table 1 shows starts and framework achievements by gender and level for 2008-09 (provisional).
	
		
			  Table 1: Apprenticeship starts and achievements by gender and level, 2008-09 (provisional) 
			Apprenticeship  Advanced Apprenticeship  Total 
			   Gender  Number  Number  Number  Number  Number  Number 
			  Starts Male 76,700 49 40,700 52 117,400 50 
			  Female 78,600 51 38,000 48 116,600 50 
			  Total 155,300 100 78,700 100 234,000 100 
			 
			  Framework Achievements Male 43,100 49 21,600 54 64,700 51 
			  Female 44,100 51 18,100 46 62,200 49 
			  Total 87,200 100 39,700 100 126,900 100 
			  Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred and may therefore not sum to totals. 2. Percentages are based on unrounded figures. 3. Apprenticeship starts and achievements for 2008-09 are provisional. Starts will rise by approximately 2-3 per cent. and achievements will rise by approximately 10 per cent.. This revised information will be shown in the December 2009 SFR, and the accompanying supplementary tables. 4. Full-year numbers are a count of the number of starts/achievements at any point during the year. Learners starting/achieving more than one framework will appear more than once. 5. Higher Level Apprenticeships are included with Advanced Apprenticeships.  Source:  Individualised Learner Record

Bankruptcy

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many bankruptcies there have been in  (a) England and Wales,  (b) Sussex and  (c) Lewes constituency in each of the last five years.

Ian Lucas: The available information for bankruptcies in England and Wales, Sussex and Lewes constituency between 2004 and 2008 can be seen in the following table. Information for 2009 is not currently available, as regional insolvency statistics are only compiled on an annual basis.
	
		
			  Bankruptcies 
			   England and Wales  Sussex( 1)  Lewes constituency( 1) 
			 2004 35,898 1,091 64 
			 2005 47,291 1,443 84 
			 2006 62,956 1,702 119 
			 2007 64,480 1,952 111 
			 2008 67,428 1,684 84 
			 (1) Where the bankrupt has provided a valid postcode (increasing from 94.5 per cent. of cases in 2004 to 96.9 per cent. in 2008).

Bankruptcy

Damian Green: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many bankruptcies of individuals in each age group there have been in  (a) Ashford and  (b) Kent in (i) 2008 and (ii) 2009.

Ian Lucas: The available information for bankruptcies in Ashford and Kent, in 2008 by age group, can be seen in Table 1. Information for 2009 is not currently available, as regional insolvency statistics are only compiled on an annual basis.
	
		
			  Table 1: Bankruptcies in 2008 
			   Region( 2) 
			  Age group( 1)  Ashford  Kent 
			 Under 25 4 80 
			 25 to 34 23 396 
			 35 to 44 34 468 
			 45 to 54 22 365 
			 55 to 64 19 187 
			 65+ 4 76 
			 Unknown 9 108 
			 (1) Where the bankrupt has provided a valid date of birth (93.4 per cent. in 2008). (2) Where the bankrupt has provided a valid postcode (96.9 per cent. in 2008).

Broadband

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what percentage of households in the UK  (a) have broadband access and  (b) have broadband of at least two Mbps.

Stephen Timms: Ofcom research indicates that over 99 per cent. of households are connected to a broadband enabled exchange and 65 per cent. of households in the UK subscribe to a fixed broadband connection. We estimate that today 89 per cent. of homes can readily get a 2Mbps (or higher) broadband service (as reported in the Digital Britain White Paper, June 2009).

Broadband: Eastbourne

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate he has made of the number of people resident in Eastbourne constituency who have access to a broadband internet connection; and whether he has made an estimate of the time required to make such access available to all such people.

Stephen Timms: This Department has not undertaken any estimates of the number of people in Eastbourne constituency who have access to a broadband internet connection. The Government's universal service commitment will ensure that homes across the UK have access to a line capable of delivering 2 Mbps by 2012. This should ensure that all homes in Eastbourne have access to broadband within three years, if they have not already.

Caparo Group

Graham Stuart: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what meetings  (a) the Secretary of State,  (b) other Ministers and  (c) officials in his Department have had with Angad Paul in each of the last three years.

Patrick McFadden: My hon. Friend the then Minister for Trade, Investment and Consumer Affairs met Angad Paul on 17 September 2008. In addition, Angad Paul was on the business delegation that accompanied my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and my noble Friend the Secretary of State to the Gulf in November 2008; and also accompanied the then Minister for Trade and Investment on an earlier visit to Saudi Arabia in March 2008.
	UKTI officials have had regular contact with Angad Paul over the past two years, particularly through his membership of the Saudi British Joint Business Council (SBJBC) and his involvement with the UK India Business Council, in addition to interactions with Caparo Group.

Capita

Don Touhig: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether any contracts between Capita Group plc and his Department and its predecessors have been cancelled before completion since 1997; and whether Capita Group plc has been liable for any penalties arising from failings in the administration of such contracts since 1997.

Patrick McFadden: Information on cancelled contracts and contract penalties that may have been applied to existing contracts with the Department of Business, Innovations and Skills is not held centrally and the collation of such details could only be undertaken at disproportionate cost.

City of London Guilds

John Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on how many occasions the Secretary of State has met representatives of the City of London guilds in the course of his official duties in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: My noble Friend the Secretary of State has had no meetings with City Of London Livery Companies as such but undoubtedly will have met numerous members of various Livery Companies at meetings and events in the course of his official duties.

Departmental Art Works

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what changes there have been to artwork installed in  (a) the Secretary of State's office,  (b) offices of other Ministers and  (c) elsewhere in his Department since 3 October 2008.

Patrick McFadden: Since 3 October 2008 there have been changes to works of art installed in the office of my noble Friend the Secretary of State, and the offices of my hon. Friend the Minister of State for Higher Education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Consumer Affairs, my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Regulatory Reform, my noble Friend the Minister of State for Trade and Investment and my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Postal Affairs and Employment Relations and the Department's Permanent Secretary and Professor John Beddington, the chief scientific adviser.
	There has been no cost to the Department.

Departmental Contracts

Don Touhig: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what criteria his Department uses in determining the award of contracts; and how much his Department and its predecessors have spent on the advertisement of tenders for Government contracts since 1997.

Patrick McFadden: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills uses the most economically advantageous tender criteria in determining the award of contracts.
	The Department does not record spend on the advertisement of tenders centrally, and such details could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Disclosure of Information

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many allegations of victimisation for whistleblowing have been made to his Department by its staff since 6 June 2006.

Patrick McFadden: There have been less than five allegations of victimisation for whistleblowing reported by departmental staff since 6 June 2006. We are unable to release the specific number as to do so may lead to the identification of individuals.
	Civil servants are required to act in accordance with the standards and core values set out in the Civil Service Code. The Civil Service Code also provides for civil servants to raise matters of concern with the independent civil service commissioners if they do not receive what they consider to be a reasonable response following departmental internal procedures. The Commissioners will also consider taking a complaint direct. Further guidance on whistleblowing is set out in the Civil Service Management Code and the Directory of Civil Service Guidance.

Departmental Industrial Health and Safety

John Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many courses relating to health and safety were funded by his Department in the last 12 month period for which figures are available.

Patrick McFadden: Since the formation of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills in June, the Department's Health and Safety Team have organised the following courses:
	First Aid training-nine courses (all for individual first aider training)
	Fire Liaison Officer training-one course (12 staff attended)

Departmental Pay

Vincent Cable: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 25 November 2009,  Official Report, column 234W, on departmental pay, how many staff in his Department's predecessor departments received both an annual performance bonus and an in-year bonus in 2008-09; what the largest combined bonus payment to an individual was; and who was responsible for awarding such bonuses in each Department.

Patrick McFadden: BIS was formed through a MOG change that occurred in June. The Department was created by merging the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). In response to the question the answers for each of the former Departments are included in the following table:
	
		
			  Department  Number of people that received both an annual and in year performance award  The proportion of staff that received both an annual and in year performance award (percentage)  The largest total amount awarded to an individual staff member that received both an annual and in year performance award (£) 
			 BERR 307 10.58 7,885 
			 DIUS 8 0.90 2,150 
		
	
	Who is responsible for awarding bonuses?
	 Annual Awards
	Within both former Departments annual performance awards are given to staff that receive an annual performance rating of Highly Successful. The performance ratings are given through an appraisal process that takes place between the staff member and their line manager through the course of the year.
	 In year performance awards
	In year performance awards are in place to reward exceptional performance over a short period of time that might not be fully reflected in a staff appraisal report and annual pay awards. The following applies within the former Departments.
	 BERR
	The Director General has the final responsibility for authorising any special awards within their group.
	 DIUS
	The process for making in year awards is managed at group level with staff being assessed by panels consisting of staff from all grades against criteria set out in the DIUS values.

Departmental Recruitment

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of jobs advertised by his Department in the last 12 months were online only applications; and what provision his Department makes for those wishing to apply for jobs in his Department who do not have access to the internet.

Patrick McFadden: In the last 12 months BIS and its predecessors have undertaken 14 external recruitment campaigns. Nine of these were undertaken by the former Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). Of the 14, only one recruitment campaign requested online only applications. This was a generic campaign for vacancies across former BERR; 25 at Grade 7 and 25 at HEO level. No specific arrangements were made for those without access to the internet and nor were any requested by potential applicants.
	There were no recruitment campaigns undertaken in the former Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) that requested online only applications.

Departmental Taxis

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many miles  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials in his Department and its predecessors travelled by taxi in the course of their official duties in each year since 1997; and at what cost to the public purse in each such year.

Patrick McFadden: Ministers would generally make use of Government cars. Travel by Ministers is undertaken in accordance with the ministerial code. The Department does not hold separate records of the travel journeys undertaken by Ministers as opposed to those undertaken by officials, to provide this information would entail disproportionate costs.
	Mileage travelled during taxi journeys is not recorded and details are therefore unavailable.
	Taxi spend incurred by officials (including those in DIUS) in UK and overseas travel is as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2004-05 342,928 
			 2005-06 386,443 
			 2006-07 349,075 
			 2007-08 329,842 
			 2008-09 411,471 
		
	
	Earlier spend details have not been retained and are therefore unavailable.

Dieticians

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many undergraduate degrees in dietetics that entitle the holder to practise as a fully qualified were awarded in each of the last 10 years.

David Lammy: Information on undergraduate degrees awarded in dietetics is not available and the numbers of first degree qualifiers in Nutrition are given as an alternative in the table. Nutrition is classified as a principal subject in the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record and includes courses in nutrition and dietetics.
	It is not known whether these courses are accredited and entitle the degree holder to practise as a fully qualified dietician.
	Figures are provided for the academic years 2002/03 to 2007/08, as subject data prior to 2002/03 are not directly comparable.
	Figures for the 2008/09 academic year will be available from HESA in January.
	
		
			  First degree qualifiers( 1)  in Nutrition-UK higher education institutions( 2) , academic years 2002/03 to 2007/08 
			  Academic Year  Qualifiers 
			 2002/03 490 
			 2003/04 540 
			 2004/05 595 
			 2005/06 615 
			 2006/07 745 
			 2007/08 970 
			 (1) Includes Qualifiers from full-time and part-time courses. (2) Figures exclude the Open University due inconsistencies in their coding of subjects across the time series.  Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest five.  Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency

Driving

Stephen Ladyman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what mechanisms are in place to ensure that staff who drive  (a) a vehicle for which (i) his Department and (ii) one of its Executive agencies is responsible have valid driving licences and  (b) their own vehicles in the course of their official duties for (A) his Department and (B) one of its executive agencies have valid driving licences and insurance; what guidance is issued to those staff in respect of road safety while carrying out official duties; what steps are taken to monitor compliance with that guidance; what requirements there are on such staff to report to their line managers accidents in which they are involved while driving in the course of their official duties; and whether such reports are investigated.

Patrick McFadden: The driver of a car being used for business purposes is advised that his responsibilities are as follows:
	you have a current driving licence, which covers the vehicle being driven
	you have suitable insurance allowing for business use of the vehicle
	the car has a current MOT, and is roadworthy
	you allow adequate time for journeys (including time for breaks on long journeys)
	you follow all advice, guidance and legislation relating to road safety-you will have to pay any fines incurred as a result of any driving offence
	you drive with consideration for the safety of passengers and other road users.
	Staff are required to report accidents on business travel to line management, which would be investigated if considered appropriate to do so.
	I have approached the chief executives of the Department's agencies and they will respond to my hon. Friend directly.
	 Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 8 December 2009:
	The Minister of State, for the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has asked me to reply to you directly in respect of your question what mechanisms are in place to ensure that staff who drive (a) a vehicle for which (i) his Department and (ii) one of its executive agencies is responsible have valid driving licences and (b) their own vehicles in the course of their official duties for (A) his Department and (B) one of its executive agency have valid driving licences and insurance; what guidance is issued to those staff in respect of road safety while carrying out official duties; what steps are taken to monitor compliance with that guidance; what requirements there are on such staff to report to their line managers accidents in which they are involved while driving in the course of their official duties; and whether such reports are investigated.
	For the purposes of travel on official Insolvency Service business in a vehicle for which the Service is responsible, it is the responsibility of line managers to ensure that staff hold a valid driving licence.
	For travel on official Service business in a privately owned motor vehicle, the staff guidance advises that the owner of the vehicle should ensure that the driver holds a current driving licence for the vehicle. Regarding insurance, the use of a private motor vehicle must satisfy certain insurance conditions. It is the employee's personal responsibility to ensure that these conditions are fulfilled. Staff must declare that they know and understand the insurance requirements, and that they are covered accordingly.
	There is no specific guidance regarding road safety but staff are advised that they must ensure that the private vehicle they drive has a current MOT and is in roadworthy condition. The monitoring of compliance with guidance is the responsibility of local line managers, and is not checked centrally.
	Staff are required to report any motor vehicle accidents to their line-manager. Line managers must ensure that all accidents, incidents and near-miss events falling within their area of responsibility are reported and appropriately investigated, and remedies put in place to prevent re-occurrence. Near misses are not recorded unless they have resulted in some type of injury or distress to the individual that warrants recording under the above scheme.
	 Letter from Sean Dennehey, dated 27 November 2009:
	I am responding in respect of the Intellectual Property Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 24 November 2009, to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
	The Intellectual Property Office, an executive agency of BIS, requires staff who drive their own vehicle during the course of their duties to sign a declaration which confirms they have valid insurance.
	Hire cars are covered by Crown indemnity. Line managers are expected to check driving licences annually to ensure compliance with the requirements. If a hire vehicle is involved in an accident staff are required to notify the hire company and the line manager and full details of the incident submitted to the HR department.
	In respect of road safety we do not issue separate guidance: we expect staff to behave responsibly in all aspects of their official duties. It is made clear that the Office will not reimburse or accept any fines or penalties for motoring offences.
	 Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 8 December 2009:
	I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 24 November 2009, UIN 302169, to the Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	Companies House has a Health and Safety Driving at Work Policy covering all the issues raised in your question. It is available if you wish to see it.
	 Letter from Peter Mason, dated 26 November 2009:
	I am responding in respect of the National Measurement Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled 24 November 2009, to the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	Where a vehicle was used for official business National Measurement Office staff must declare, on each claim made, that a valid driving licence is held by the driver and that no endorsements were pending that could result in a ban. If relevant to the claim, the declaration also covers that the vehicle used has a current MOT and is in roadworthy condition. Managers are required to confirm that the claimant's driving licence and, where relevant, motor insurance policy and MOT are reviewed for validity for official business use.
	The National Measurement Office has issued staff guidance for driving for work. Drivers must report any accidents, in which they were involved, when on official business. Guidance covers the actions that staff must undertake in such circumstances. Staff must complete an accident form within 24 hours of any such accident. The content of this form is then considered under normal health and safety procedures.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on how many occasions the Export Credits Guarantee Department has reported allegations of bribery and corruption to  (a) the Serious Fraud Office and  (b) other agencies in each of the last five years.

Ian Lucas: Since January 2004, ECGD has reported five matters to NCIS or the SFO.

Exports: Munitions

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answer of 12 November 2009,  Official Report, columns 644-45W, on exports: white phosphorus, which licences for exports to each country of destination were for munitions controlled in the  (a) ML3a or  (b) ML4a category.

Ian Lucas: As previously stated, although the Export Control Organisation within BIS has identified 67 licences for munitions designed to create illumination or act as an incendiary we are unable to categorically identify which, if any, of these licences are for munitions that contain white phosphorous. However, the breakdown of licences issued for each destination which were for munitions in the ML3a, ML4a, or both categories are as follows:
	
		
			  Country  Total licences with ML3a  Total licences with ML4a  Total licences with both ML3a and ML4a 
			 Abu Dhabi (part of United Arab Emirates) - 2 - 
			 Afghanistan 1 1 - 
			 Australia - 2 - 
			 Bermuda - 1 1 
			 Brazil - 1 1 
			 Brunei - 3 - 
			 Canada 1 1 - 
			 Cyprus - 1 - 
			 Denmark - 1 - 
			 Estonia - 1 - 
			 Germany - 2 - 
			 Greenland - 1 - 
			 Honduras - 1 - 
			 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region - 1 - 
			 India - 1 - 
			 Iraq - 5 1 
			 Irish Republic - 2 - 
			 Israel - 1 - 
			 Italy 1 - - 
			 Jordan - - 1 
			 South Korea - 2 - 
			 Kuwait 1 1 - 
			 Latvia - 1 - 
			 Lithuania - 1 - 
			 New Zealand - 3 - 
			 Norway - 1 - 
			 Pakistan - 3 - 
			 Saudi Arabia - 5 1 
			 Sierra Leone - - 1 
			 Singapore - 3 - 
			 Sri Lanka - 2 - 
			 Thailand - 7 -

Further Education

David Evennett: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which further education colleges the Secretary of State has visited since his appointment.

Kevin Brennan: My noble Friend the Secretary of State has visited Westminster Kingsway College since the creation of BIS. He has met with a number of other college principals and representatives over the course of his departmental business, including giving the keynote speech at the Association of Colleges annual conference on 19 November.

Further Education: Standards

David Evennett: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many further education colleges were deemed to be  (a) outstanding,  (b) good,  (c) satisfactory and  (d) failing by Ofsted in the last 12 months.

Kevin Brennan: The annual report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills 2008-09 was published on 24 November. The data in this report show that there were a total of 89 further education colleges inspected in 2008-09. Of these: 18 were judged to be outstanding; 38 were judged to be good; 29 were judged to be satisfactory; and four were judged to be inadequate.

Higher Education: International Co-operation

David Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answer of 21 July 2009,  Official Report, column 1723W, on higher education: international co-operation, what funding his Department plans to make available for the joint activities identified in the report of the US/UK study group on higher education and collaboration in a global context.

David Lammy: The Department remains committed to supporting engagement between higher education institutions in the United Kingdom and the United States but there are currently no plans to invest further funding following publication of the US/UK Study Group report.

Higher Education: Overseas Students

David Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students from outside the EU have entered higher education programmes from further education institutions since 1997.

David Lammy: The information is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses in the UK- Non EU overseas students who submitted their application from a UK address 
			   Year of entry 
			  Centre through which their application was submitte d  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 Art design and performing arts 137 154 156 171 220 120 118 95 110 83 63 24 
			 Further education 797 471 472 462 861 1432 1863 1817 1467 1325 1350 1632 
			 Sixth form centre/college 143 141 175 173 214 258 331 365 331 286 219 240 
			 Total 1077 766 803 806 1295 1810 2312 2277 1908 1694 1632 1896 
			  Source: UCAS Non EU applicants who submitted their application from a UK address are those who had a correspondence address in the UK with a valid postcode The centre identified is that through which the application was received, though the applicant may not be studying at that centre (at the time of application).

Housing: Carbon Emissions

Mark Prisk: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions his Department has had with the Department of Energy and Climate Change on the proposed Standard Assessment Procedure grid carbon dioxide methodology.

Patrick McFadden: The Department has had no discussions with the Department for Energy and Climate Change on the proposed Standard Assessment Procedure grid carbon dioxide methodology.

Iraq

Liam Fox: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many civil servants from his Department are based in  (a) Basra,  (b) Baghdad and  (c) other locations in Iraq.

Ian Lucas: UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) has four permanent positions in Baghdad, consisting of one UK based officer and three locally engaged staff, and one permanent position in Basra filled by a locally engaged member of staff.

London Metropolitan University: Finance

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the KPMG Report to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) reviewing lessons learned from the London Metropolitan University case,  (a) whether (i) KMPG, (ii) HEFCE and (iii) his Department has seen in full the BDO Stoy Hayward review of London Metropolitan University's approach to student records and the level of accuracy of its student-data completions;  (b) how much money has been (A) repaid to HEFCE by the university and (B) withheld by HEFCE from the university in relation to the matter and (C) whether the Secretary of State has been informed of active or dormant legal restraints on making public (1) the BDO Stoy Hayward review and (2) the redacted parts of the KPMG review.

David Lammy: The information is as follows:
	 (a) (i) I understand that KPMG was made aware of the key elements of the BDO report during their investigation of HEFCE's handling of the London Metropolitan case.
	(ii) HEFCE commissioned and saw the report in full.
	(iii) HEFCE sent a redacted version of the report to me and one of my officials on 24 July 2009, 24 hours ahead of its first release in response to a request under freedom of information legislation. It has not been shared more widely within my Department.
	 (b) In general, funding is repaid by institutions to HEFCE by HEFCE withholding funds from its grant payments to them. HEFCE has agreed a repayment profile with London Metropolitan for the sum of £36.5 million running from July 2009 to July 2014. So far, £682,892 has been withheld by HEFCE from London metropolitan's grant payments.
	 (c) I and my officials were made aware of the restraints to the publication of the BDO report and the reasons for the redactions to the KPMG report.

Lord Sugar

David Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on how many occasions the Secretary of State has met Lord Sugar on official business in each of the last six months.

Patrick McFadden: My noble friend the Secretary of State had an introductory meeting with Lord Sugar on 8 July and has met him subsequently in the course of a number of other official meetings and events.

Medical Devices

Laura Moffatt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  if he will make an assessment of the effect on the level of  (a) employment,  (b) private investment in research and development and  (c) revenue of UK-based life sciences companies of changes to the reimbursement policy for medical devices in other European countries due to come into effect in January 2010;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to assist UK-based life sciences companies affected by changes to the reimbursement policy for medical devices in other European countries due to come into effect in January 2010.

David Lammy: There are currently no plans to i) make an assessment of the effect, or ii) take specific action to support, the UK Life Science sector in relation to changes to reimbursement policy in other European countries.
	BIS however is committed to helping British firms who are facing unjustified barriers to operating in other EU markets. The main tool the Department has for tackling such barriers is SOLVIT. This is a pan-European network which was set up specifically as a free service to help EU citizens and businesses solve problems that arise from the incorrect application of EU law by national administrations. Companies that suspect that they may be facing such barriers should contact the UK SOLVIT centre at:
	solvit@bis.gov.uk

Minimum Wage

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of people in  (a) the UK,  (b) England,  (c) the North East and  (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency who would have earned a wage lower than the level of the national minimum wage if the national minimum wage had not been in existence in each year since its introduction.

Patrick McFadden: Annual estimates for the number of employees who benefit from the national minimum wage (NMW) annual upratings between 1999 and 2009 are provided in table 1 and the notes. The information relates to those who benefited because they earned an hourly wage less than national minimum wage (NMW) rates prior to the uprating. It does not represent the number of individuals who would have earned a lower wage in the absence of the NMW uprating.
	Full information is provided for the UK and partial information for England and the north-east. Information is not available at constituency level.
	 (a) Table 1 shows the estimated number of employees benefiting from the NMW in the UK.
	
		
			  Table 1: Job holders benefiting from the annual October increases in the national minimum wage 
			   Number ( m illion) 
			 1999(1) 1 
			 2001(2) 1.3 
			 2003 0.9 
			 2004 1.1 
			 2005 0.9 
			 2006 1.2 
			 2007 0.9 
			 2008 1.0 
			 2009(3) 1.0 
			 (1) Figures for 1999, take earnings inflation into account, those earning between £3.50 and £2.90 in spring 1998 would benefit from the NMW introduction in April 1999.  (2 )Figures for 2001, take earnings inflation into account, those earning beneath £3.40/£4.00 and £3.50/£4.10 in spring 2001 would benefit from the October 2001 increase.  (3 )Figures between 2003 and 2009 take into account earnings inflation.   Source:  BIS estimates using Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) and Annual Earnings Index (AEI); Office for National Statistics 
		
	
	 (b) Using the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2008 data, BIS estimate that within England 770,000 employees were earning an hourly wage less than the October 2009 NMW rates. This estimate will be revised in December 2009 using the latest ASHE 2009 data and will be published in the 'Government Evidence to the Low Pay Commission on the Economic Effects of the NMW' December 2009 report.
	 (c) Using ASHE 2008 data, BIS estimate that within the north-east region 60,000 employees were earning an hourly wage less than the October 2009 NMW rates. This estimate will be revised in December 2009 using the latest ASHE 2009 data and will be published in the 'Government Evidence to the Low Pay Commission on the Economic eEfects of the NMW' December 2009 report.
	 (d) Robust estimates for employees earning an hourly wage less than a forthcoming NMW rate are not available at the constituency level because of small sample sizes in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE).

NESTA

Nick Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what payments the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts has made to Consolidated PR in each of the last three years; for what purposes; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contract under which such payments have been made;
	(2)  how much public funding the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) has received in each year since its establishment; how many in-house  (a) public affairs and  (b) public relations staff NESTA employs; and how much NESTA has spent on externally provided (i) public affairs and (ii) public relations services in the last three years.

David Lammy: In 2007/08 the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) contracted with the Central Office of Information (COI) for services when the NESTA communications team was not fully staffed and significant initiatives required communications support. Consolidated PR was chosen by COI to undertake the work and was paid £138,794. In 2008/09, NESTA engaged Consolidated PR directly and paid £17,832 for provision of the same type of services. NESTA made no payments to Consolidated PR in 2006/07. Contracts relating to these arrangements are a matter for the parties concerned.
	NESTA is funded by an endowment from the National Lottery rather than grant in aid funding from its sponsor Department, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. NESTA was established in 1998 with an original endowment of £200 million from the National Lottery. In February 2003, £50 million was added to the endowment, and £45 million was received by NESTA for new initiatives, again from the National Lottery. In February 2006, NESTA secured an additional £75 million of endowment funding from the National Lottery to be paid over five years, £15 million pa from 2005/06 to 2009/10. The value of the endowment at 31 March 2009 was £326 million.
	NESTA employs two public affairs staff and three public relations staff. In the last three years, NESTA spent nothing on externally provided public affairs services. NESTA spent £58,033 in 2006/07, £148,395 in 2007/08 and £52,482 in 2008/09 on externally provided public relations services.

Pipex Homecall: Complaints

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many complaints from consumers Ofcom  (a) received and  (b) upheld relating to Pipex Homecall and its related companies in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: The matter raised is the responsibility of the independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is accountable to Parliament rather than Ministers. Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive of Ofcom to reply directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the chief executives letter will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Risk and Regulation Advisory Council: Public Relations

Nick Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which external public relations firms the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council has hired since its inception; at what cost; and for what purposes.

Ian Lucas: The following expenditure figures cover contracts with external public relations firms for the period from the inception of the RRAC in January 2008 to November 2009. These figures include expenditure from the budget of the unit responsible for raising awareness of the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council work and tools.
	Bell Design and Communications Ltd. to provide benefits capture, design and delivery of launch event and publication design: £87,324.
	Compass Rose and Co. to provide public relations consultancy services: £53,000.

Royal Mail: Public Relations

Nick Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what payments Royal Mail has made to  (a) Grayling Political Strategy and  (b) Positif Politics Ltd in each of the last three years; for what purposes; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contract under which such payments have been made.

Patrick McFadden: The use of consultants by Royal Mail is a matter for the company. I have, therefore, asked the chief executive of Royal Mail to provide you with a reply to your question.
	I will place a copy of his reply in the Library.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on what dates the Secretary of State has met Saif al-Islam Gaddafi since his appointment; who attended each such meeting; what the location was of each such meeting; and what matters were discussed at each such meeting.

Patrick McFadden: I refer the hon. Member for Harwich to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorkshire) (Mr. Hague) on 9 September 2009,  Official Report, column 2077W.

Train to Gain Programme

David Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which Train to Gain providers have had discussions with Ministers on the funding and contract arrangements for Train to Gain for 2009-10.

Kevin Brennan: I meet regularly with the representative bodies of both further education (FE) colleges and private training institutions; including the Association of Colleges and the Association of Learning Providers. I am the chair of a regular Further Education and Skills standing group. I also visit FE colleges and training institutions, which provides further opportunities for discussion.
	Funding and contract arrangements for learners aged 19 or over on FE and skills provision, including Train to Gain, are administered by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The LSC has established and maintains a close and collaborative working relationship with individual FE colleges and training institutions and will be in regular direct contact with them on a variety of issues.

Train to Gain Programme

David Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many complaints have been received by (a) his Department and  (b) the Learning and Skills Council from Train to Gain providers about the funding and contract arrangements for Train to Gain for 2009-10.

Kevin Brennan: I receive a wide range of correspondence in relation to my departmental responsibilities. This includes correspondence from further education colleges and training institutions sent via their Member of Parliament and from key stakeholders and representative bodies such as the Association of Colleges or the Association of Learning Providers. Due to the large volume of correspondence received, it is not possible to separately identify where a specific complaint has been made about a particular funding arrangement from a particular class of correspondent.
	The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is responsible for the operation of funding and contract arrangements for adult learning including Train to Gain. They receive a similarly diverse range of correspondence. Any formal complaints they receive are handled through a defined complaints procedure detailed on their website and are targeted for resolution within three months. The LSC is not aware of having received any complaints through this route about Train to Gain funding and contract arrangements for 2009-10.

Unemployment: Young People

David Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what percentage of people aged between 16 and 24 years old were not in education, employment or training in the third quarter of each of the last 10 years.

Kevin Brennan: The table gives the number and percentage of people aged(1) 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training (NEET) in the third quarter of each year from 2000 to 2009.
	These estimates are from the Labour Force Survey and will include pregnant mothers, those caring for children or relatives, people with a disability or suffering from ill health, and those waiting for a course or job to start, including those on a gap year.
	
		
			  People aged( 1)  16 to 24 not in education, employment or training in England 
			   Number  Percentage of all 16 to 24-year-olds 
			 2000 749,000 14.5 
			 2001 766,000 14.6 
			 2002 785,000 14.8 
			 2003 815,000 14.9 
			 2004 829,000 14.9 
			 2005 877,000 15.2 
			 2006 970,000 16.6 
			 2007 909,000 15.4 
			 2008 973,000 16.2 
			 2009 1,082,000 18.0 
			 (1) Age is based on academic age, which is defined as the age of the respondent at the preceding 31 August  Source: Quarter 3 Labour Force Survey 
		
	
	It must be noted that a direct comparison between consecutive quarters cannot be made as quarterly NEET estimates from the LFS display a strong seasonal pattern. Estimates for quarter 3 are always considerably higher than in quarter 4 because of the number of young people who are either between courses or who have recently left education.
	Estimates for every quarter since 2005 have been produced by the Department for Children Schools and Families and are available here:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d000890/NEETQtrBriefQ32009.pdf

Union Learning Fund: Finance

John Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department allocated in respect of union learning representatives in the last 12 months; and how many such posts in his Department were full-time.

Patrick McFadden: BIS have two union learning representatives who are allocated up to 4.5 days per year for this activity alongside their other duties.

Union Modernisation Fund

Nick Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answer of 21 July 2009,  Official Report, column 1756W, on the Union Modernisation Fund, if he will publish in full the rules on conflicts of interest.

Patrick McFadden: The Members of the Union Modernisation Fund Supervisory Board are selected by open competition in accordance with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments' Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies (OCPA). As part of that appointments process, applicants must give details of potential conflicts of interest.
	All appointment letters set out the Nolan Principles of Public Life. Board Members must declare any personal or business interests which may, or may be perceived to, influence their judgements in performing their functions.
	Copies of the OCPA code and Nolan Principles are available in the Libraries of the House.

Union Modernisation Fund

Nick Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answer of 21 July 2009,  Official Report, column 1756W, on the Union Modernisation Fund, when he expects the final evaluation report of the Modernisation Fund to be published.

Patrick McFadden: A copy of the final evaluation report of the first round of the Union Modernisation Fund produced by the Department in conjunction with Leeds University Business School was published in October on the Department's website. Copies were placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Union Modernisation Fund

Nick Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answer of 21 July 2009,  Official Report, column 1756W, on the Union Modernisation Fund, if he will publish the declarations of past and present political activity made by each of the members of the supervisory board to date.

Patrick McFadden: At the time of their appointment, the members of the Union Modernisation Fund Supervisory Board declared the following interests:
	Sir Bill Connor (Chair) declared that he had spoken on behalf of a party or candidate and canvassed on behalf of a party or helped at election (for the Labour party);
	Adrian Askew declared that he had held office such as Chair, Treasurer or Secretary of a local branch of a party and canvassed on behalf of a party or helped at election (for the Labour party);
	William Brown declared no political activity;
	Danny Carrigan declared that he had canvassed on behalf of a party or helped at election and a member of the National Executive Committee (for the Labour party);
	Jeannie Drake declared that she had canvassed on behalf of a party or helped at election and a member of the Labour Party National Policy Forum (for the Labour party);
	Bruce Warman declared no political activity;
	Professor David Gordon declared
	I am a member of the Cooperative Party which aims to foster the agenda and activities of the Cooperative movement in the UK. The Cooperative Party is affiliated to the Labour Party and also supports the Woodcraft Folk which is a youth movement/club which my daughter attends;
	David Lebrecht declared no political activity.

Vocational Training

John Hayes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on support for traditional skill sets in remote island economies in the UK.

Kevin Brennan: Skills policy in England focuses on equipping the workforce with the skills needed to compete in a global marketplace and enable people and their families to live happier, healthier, more successful lives.
	Government recognise the importance of traditional skills sets. Securing the right skills provision and attracting a new generation into these industries is key to preserving our heritage. Working across Government Departments and through English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, we want to ensure that our heritage is cared for, protected and enhanced for current and future generations to enjoy.
	Many of the UK's remote islands are not part of England. Skills policy in the UK is devolved and as such policy for those islands are a matter for the Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly.